title: The Impact of Human Rights on Universalizing Health Care in Vermont, USA.
abstract: In 2010, Vermont adopted a new law embracing human rights principles as guidelines for health care reform, and in 2011, Vermont was the first state in the US to enact framework legislation to establish a universal health care system for all its residents. This article reports on the Vermont Workers' Center's human rights-based approach to universal health care and the extent to which this approach influenced decision makers. We found the following: (1) by learning about the human right to health care and sharing experiences, Vermonters were motivated to demand universal health care; (2) mobilizing Vermonters around a unified message on the right to health care made universal health care politically important; (3) using the human rights framework to assess new proposals enabled the Vermont Workers' Center to respond quickly to new policy proposals; (4) framing health care as a human right provided an alternative to the dominant economics-based discourse; and (5) while economics continues to dominate discussions among Vermont leaders, both legislative committees on health care use the human rights principles as guiding norms for health care reform. Importantly, the principles have empowered Vermonters by giving them more voice in policymaking and have been internalized by legislators as democratic principles of governance.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor in the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: MacNaughton
authors.affiliation: Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Equity Training Research and Evaluation, University of New South Wales and the Ingham Institute, Australia.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Haigh
authors.affiliation: attorney residing in Vermont and Senior Fellow with the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy, Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Mariah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McGill
authors.affiliation: PhD student at the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koutsioumpas
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security and Global Governance and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sprague
mesh_terms: D018166:Health Care Reform; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D019472:Universal Health Insurance; D014707:Vermont