Health care as right goes wrong
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By David Delcore TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: April 30, 2009
BARRE – If health care is a human right, then somebody needs to tell the Barre City Council.
This week a short-handed council deadlocked, 3-3, on a resolution that would have backed the premise of a massive rally that is to be held on the Statehouse lawn Friday.
Organized by the Vermont Workers' Center and sponsored by more than 100 Vermont community organizations, labor unions and businesses, Friday's "Health Care is a Human Right" rally is designed to draw attention to two bills that would institute a single-payer health care system in the state.
In an attempt to boost support for that effort, Councilor Paul Poirier, who also represents Barre in the Legislature, urged his council colleagues to back a resolution that was nearly identical to the one unanimously approved by the Burlington City Council earlier this week.
"Everyone should have access to affordable health care," Poirier said.
Perhaps, but half of the council members present Tuesday night weren't willing to publicly declare that access to affordable health care is something to which all Vermonters are entitled.
Mayor Thomas Lauzon led the charge against Poirier's resolution. Although he freely conceded that health care is an "important issue" and finding a solution should be a "top priority of government," he said he wasn't willing to go any farther than that.
"It's the term 'human right,'" he said. "I don't want to be viewed as saying: 'I don't think health care is an issue' – it is. I just don't know if I'm ready to make that leap."
Lauzon wasn't alone.
Councilors Steve Mackenzie and Scott Gagnon both voted against the resolution, leaving Poirier one vote shy of the four votes needed to pass the resolution.
Mackenzie was openly relieved that he wasn't the only one with misgivings about the nebulous language in a resolution that was a last-minute addition to the council's agenda.
"I thought I was going to be the only Grinch on this one," he said. "I don't downplay the need for health care, but there are some elements of this resolution that I'm not comfortable with and I'm not able to support it."
Poirier did, and the Barre Democrat was joined by Councilors Michael Smith and Randy Copping, creating the 3-3 tie that resulted in the failure of his proposed resolution.
Lauzon, who said he discussed his feelings about the proposed resolution with Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss, indicated he would be attending Friday's rally.
"I'm interested in hearing what the speakers have to say," he said.
Speakers at the noon rally include U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., and Dr. Deb Richter, a Montpelier physician who has long been campaigning for health care for all Vermonters.
Lauzon didn't discourage anyone from attending, though the resolution proposed by Poirier would have specifically encouraged Barre residents to attend.
Tuesday night wasn't the first time councilors were asked to show support for the health care rally.
Earlier this month, councilors politely rejected event organizers' request that municipal employees be given the afternoon off to attend the rally. At the time, Lauzon explained that what workers did on their own time was their business, but that it was impossible to free emergency personnel and financially imprudent to give other workers half the day off.
According to estimates cited by Lauzon at the time and repeated Tuesday night, it would have cost the city $2,000 an hour, or roughly $8,000, to give workers the afternoon off.
"I just can't support that," he said.
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