U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined Democratic/Progressive gubernatorial candidate Amanda Janoo in Winooski on Thursday, lending his political star power to her campaign against incumbent Republican Gov. Phil Scott less than two weeks before Election Day.
The appearance outside the Community Health Centers marked the first time Sanders has publicly campaigned alongside Janoo since endorsing her on October 7. The senator, who has been crisscrossing the country to support progressive candidates, made a rare foray into Vermont’s gubernatorial politics to champion Janoo’s proposal for publicly funded primary health care.
Sanders described this year’s balloting as “the most important midterm election in the history of the United States.” The senator emphasized that his support for Janoo was rooted in her progressive agenda, particularly her health care proposal.
Unlike Sanders’ proposal for Medicare for All, which would establish a national, government-funded insurance system covering virtually all medical care, Janoo’s plan would initially cover only primary and preventive services, such as routine checkups and screenings. Vermonters would still need insurance for hospital stays, surgeries and other medical care. Sanders said Janoo’s plan would make Vermont a national model for expanding access to health care.
Vermonters pay some of the highest health insurance premiums in the country. Vermont’s lowest-cost bronze health plans — a category of coverage with relatively high out-of-pocket costs — averaged more than twice the national price in 2025, according to VT Healthcare 911, a coalition pushing for lower costs.
Under Janoo’s proposal, the state would pay for participating doctors, nurses and other primary care providers, eliminating insurance barriers, copays and deductibles for primary and preventive services. Janoo plans to fund the program by raising taxes on wealthy Vermonters.
“This is about making health care free at the point of care, while building a publicly funded system that is accountable to the people it serves,” Janoo said on Thursday.
The proposal would be an initial step toward universal health care, an ambition Vermont has pursued before. In 2011, the state enacted legislation laying the groundwork for a single-payer system, but then-governor Peter Shumlin abandoned the effort in 2014 over financing concerns.
Scott invoked that history during Wednesday night’s gubernatorial debate — the first time he and Janoo faced off this election cycle — arguing that Vermont cannot afford another attempt at sweeping health care reform.
“If we’re going to do something like this, it has to be done nationally,” Scott said during the debate. “It can’t be done in Vermont, where we can’t afford another experiment like that.”
In June, Scott signed legislation directing state officials to study how universal primary care could be implemented, including its costs and potential funding mechanisms. The law calls for recommendations to lawmakers in January.
Janoo has estimated her primary care proposal would cost at least $320 million annually. She suggested during Wednesday’s debate that higher taxes on wealthy Vermonters could raise roughly $260 million each year. She has also suggested the program could save the state money by reducing more expensive medical treatments, such as those delivered in emergency department settings, though those estimates remain preliminary.
At Thursday’s event, she suggested communities could begin piloting the program within her first 100 days in office, if elected.
Sanders acknowledged that Vermont could not solve the nation’s health care problems alone but argued that expanding primary care would improve health and reduce costly hospital visits.
“I think that would be just an extraordinary achievement,” he said.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
