(Host) Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Hardy Machia says he’d like to see major changes to the way that health care services are provided to Vermonters. Speaking Thursday night on VPR’s Switchboard program, Machia said he’d like to implement a health care system that’s very similar to one that’s currently used in Switzerland.
Machia says he supports the Swiss approach because it requires all individuals to purchase private health insurance and it includes a subsidy for lower income workers:
(Machia) “And what it entails is instead of having a big bureaucratic Medicaid system, what the Swiss do is they buy private policies for everyone. It’s universal. The other benefit of the Swiss health care system is that the insurance follows the individual instead of being linked to an employer. So if you switch jobs or lose your job you don’t lose your health insurance. So it stays with you the whole time. They have a lot of competition in Switzerland so we can get all the insurance companies back into Vermont.”
(Host) Machia says his goal for this campaign is to receive five percent of the vote in the governor’s race so that the Libertarians will be awarded major party status for the 2006 election.