During a hearing of the Senate health committee Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders asked Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about efforts in Vermont to move forward on a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system.  Sanders supports such a system and is working to move up the state date of a waiver system he created which will allow states to have this flexibility.  Sanders asked the secretary if she will be willing to work with the Vermont congressional delegation and governor in this effort.  The secretary responded, "I applaud the work that Vermont has done.  States across the country have often been ahead of the federal government in terms of creative health strategies and we very much encourage the kind of flexibility, the state-based approaches that (the Vermont delegation’s bill) is built around, and I look forward to working with you."  Sanders summed up the efforts of the Vermont delegation: “Our goal is to maintain the high standards of the national legislation, but give the states the flexibility to show how in their particular areas they may be able to do it better, and in a more cost effective way.”  In Vermont, Dr. William Hsiao, a Harvard consultant to the Vermont Legislature, said in a recent report that that state could improve health care and save $2.1 billion by 2025 if the needed federal waivers were obtained.