Breaking News

Deb Richter: A Cure for Broken Health Care

Yes! a non-profit subscriber supported magazine, with in-depth analysis, tools for citizen engagement, and stories about real people working for a better world recently published The Yes Breakthrough 15 their list of people transforming the way we live.

Dr. Deb Richter, Photo by Kurt Budliger

Dr. Deb. Richter made their list for her advocacy of single payer healthcare in Vermont. Last May, Vermont became the first state in the nation to pass a single-payer health care plan.

“I never felt like I had a choice about getting involved in this struggle … I couldn’t stop and I never will.” —Dr. Deb Richter

In her interview with Yes!, Dr. Richter explains, “A lot of my patients didn’t have insurance. I would prescribe medicines for patients but they wouldn’t be able to afford them, and then they would just get sicker. I was mortified…I knew I couldn’t continue to practice if this situation continued. I didn’t want medicine to just be for wealthy people.”

“This will be an enormous change for people without insurance,” says Richter of the Vermont bill, which will guarantee every resident an essential health benefit package from birth. “Now that we have this in Vermont, we need to make sure it happens everywhere.”

Read the whole article from YES! Magazine, Oct 31, 2011 >  http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-yes-breakthrough-15/deb-richter-a-cure-for-broken-health-care

 

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.