The reason that Vermont abandoned its single payer health care system is that it would require a separate 9.5 percent increase in the personal income tax rate and a new 11.5 percent payroll tax on businesses to pay for it ("Single payer criticism often untruthful," Feb. 9).
After four years of studying the matter, state officials tabled the plan due to the economic collapse it would have caused. James Burdick's commentary needs to be truthful about the costs of a single payer system of which the Affordable Care Act is only a half-measure.
Brooke Tucker, Sparks