BRATTLEBORO-Within a day of learning that over 150 people marched in our July 4 parade to protest the plan to close the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Birthing Center, Amanda Janoo wrote a deeply personal and sharply political response that clearly demonstrates she is head and shoulders above all the other candidates for governor.
Her first comment was that a dear friend had just given birth, and that birth coinciding with the BMH parade story led her to question why maternity care is so undervalued.
“Every single one of us entered into this world because someone gave birth with the support of a midwife, nurse or doctor,” she wrote, yet Springfield and Morrisville lost their birthing centers in the past year, and Brattleboro’s is on the chopping block.
She knows these centers are not affordable because investors take a cut out of every healthcare dollar: “We’ve built a healthcare system that rewards what’s profitable, not what’s most essential,” she wrote.
Our system, she continued, “incentivizes procedures that can be billed, measured, and completed in a few hours[...] more than the work of caring for people over time. [...] We have built a healthcare system that rewards treating illness more than supporting life.”
Amanda Janoo wants Vermont families to get the preventive and primary care they need. She will build a free, universal primary and preventive healthcare structure to responsibly transition our system and prove that universal care can save money and improve outcomes.
Bringing small-town doctors, nurses, and mental health providers back to our communities will allow everyone to access free healthcare locally. This isn’t a pie in the sky idea. It is inspired by towns across Vermont, like Thetford, Tunbridge, and Strafford, hiring their own town nurses to address many primary care needs. Hartford, Putney, and Windsor are in the process.
Amanda Janoo has a deep background in economics and community development. She will provide the leadership needed to remove the current insurance and fee-for-service structure that drives up costs, while paying primary-care providers a good annual salary.
Gov. Phil Scott vetoed reference-based pricing for school workers, one of the few policies that would have tackled our affordability crisis. Aly Richards supports hospital transformation. She speaks about universal primary care but says “other steps need to be taken first.”
These are candidates who strive to do a better job only by managing a failing system. Amanda Janoo will change the system to give Vermonters the effective, efficient services we need. This is why the Vermont State Employees’ Association union endorsed her. This is why there is so much enthusiasm at her rallies and forums.
And this is why she is the right person at the right time for Vermont.
David Schoales
Brattleboro
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