Colorado may replace Obamacare with statewide single-payer plan

Blast from the past 2003 cartoon.
Bush and the GOP controlled Congress create a brand new prescription
entitlement program that put cash in the pockets of their big
business campaign contributors.

Bipartisan Big Government

• Colorado Leftists are pushing a big tax increase for a single payer health system. At lease this program falls under the 10th Amendment and state's rights instead of a centralized Federal system.
• GOP blocks free markets. The Republican Congress can pass market based reforms today if they gave a crap. Reforms like allowing health insurance policies to be sold over state lines to drive down prices or allowing inexpensive prescription drugs to be imported from Canada.
• The GOP Congress does NOTHING and in Colorado the GOP opposes the plan of the Left while doing zero to help the people.

(Washington Times)  -  With Colorado’s shaky Obamacare exchange in peril, some health care advocates are calling for voters to scrap it and replace it with something far more ambitious.

Proponents of a statewide single-payer health care system have submitted 156,107 signatures, far more than the 98,492 required to qualify for the November 2016 ballot, to the Colorado secretary of state’s office for verification.

If the measure qualifies, Colorado would immediately become ground zero for a national debate on the concept of steep tax increases in return for guaranteed health care coverage for all residents, all against the backdrop of a pivotal presidential race.

The program, called ColoradoCare, comes with a steep price tag: $25 billion, which would be raised with a 10 percent payroll tax increase. At the same time, the plan would provide all residents with Medicare-style health care coverage and allow the state to dump Obamacare.

Whether Colorado voters would agree to take on that kind of tax hike is another question — two years ago, they rejected a comparatively paltry $1 billion tax increase for education — but there is no doubt that the “no-more-Obamacare” argument resonates with certain segments of the population.

“For some people, I say, ‘It gets us out of Obamacare,’ and some people cheer,” T.R. Reid, a spokesman for ColoradoCareYES, said during the signature-gathering campaign. “It’s a purple state, and we have this purple plan that can appeal to both sides.”

Under the proposal, known as Initiative 20, employers would be on the hook for the lion’s share, 6.67 percent, and employees would be responsible for 3.33 percent of the 10 percent. The program would be administered by a nonprofit cooperative, not a state agency, run by a 21-member board.

Much as Colorado conservatives may dislike Obamacare, they were quick Friday to denounce the single-payer proposal.

“‘Affordable’ care just got more expensive in Colorado,” Colorado Senate Republicans said on Twitter.

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Both parties are lining their pockets with
Wall Street cash to block free market
healthcare reforms.