Amendment 69

Universal healthcare has been an ongoing debate among politicians and the common people. The idea is to give healthcare to all citizens of the country. Many believe that creating a Universal Health Care would take away the free choice in healthcare benefits and produce countless economic hardships. The healthcare system we have in place today is too costly and does not support those with little to no income. Although this system does not help everyone in need, Amendment 69 (or ColoradoCare) is not the solution.

ColoradoCare is anticipated to cost 25 billion dollars. According to former Speaker of the Colorado House, Lola Spradley, “The Colorado state budget right now, for everything, is $27 billion.” (qtd. in Strescino) That means that the Colorado State budget will be almost doubled in size. According to Ballot Pedia, they plan on obtaining this amount by a number of means. The first is implementing a ten percent payroll tax. Employees would be paying 3.33 percent and the employer will pay 6.67 percent of income. The second is revenue from government waivers. And the third is a ten percent tax on non-payroll income. This means that all small business income will be taxed ten percent (“Colorado State”).

Small businesses will be devastated by this increased burden. The free market system that has been established here in America is becoming increasingly more difficult to enter as an entrepreneur. Ten percent tax on these small businesses is detrimental to the sustainability of the company. In addition, ColoradoCare will oust all private insurance companies. Numerous employers will be forced to lay off many working people in order to afford the higher tax demands. Furthermore, Colorado residents and their families will be unable to pay the higher taxes and will be forced to leave their home State in search of a more affordable location in which to grow.

Another industry that would be affected is the Health Care industry. Due to the considerably lower amount that the health care providers will be reimbursed by the government ran ColoradoCare compared to the private insurance companies, Children’s Hospital Colorado says that it will be unable to employ the “best and brightest” physicians to be on their team. (McGraw) Qualified providers will eventually leave the state in pursuit of a better opportunity. This will make all of the Health Care providers that stay underpaid and over worked due to the shortage in workers tethered with a large surplus in patients.

Sweeping the nation, thousands of Health Care dependent individuals will hear of the benefits to living in Colorado. Many of these people have found that they are unable to receive medical help since they do not have insurance. Burnie Sanders, an American politician and former presidential candidate, stated that he believes “that health care is a right, not privilege” (Daley). However, not establishing this system nationwide will incur abuse of the system, incurring numerous people to move to Colorado and take advantage of the publicly funded ColoradoCare. This will produce a larger number of individuals reliant on ColoradoCare, initiating a larger expense with less income for this system.

In 2011, Vermont had decided to attempt providing universal health care to all of its citizens. Their system was set up similarly to how ColoradoCare is setup. There was a payroll taxation on the citizens and businesses. They also were relying on large waivers from the Federal Government. According to Forbes, Vermont was estimating a “$637 million in state Medicaid funding; that number had to be reduced by $150 million…” (“Reasons Why”). The Vermont health care system was set up to have a 3% copay on medical expenses. ColoradoCare is advocating for a 0% copay. Vermont found that the system would be too expensive to keep in place and decided to revert back to the current system we have here in Colorado. So why is it that we are repeating the same mistakes that history has shown to be unsuccessful? Furthermore, the ColoradoCare is projected to cost more than the Vermont system with a similar taxation rate. This means that we will have a large deficit that will require yet another tax increase.

All of these components would cause a crash in the Colorado economy. Having gone from one of the lowest taxed states in the country to the highest. Even though it targets to help everyone in need, it is not a sustainable plan. It would become too much of a burden for our State to handle. It is difficult to see past the short term gain of the ColoradoCare act and see how this Amendment would harm the Colorado economy. This is why I urge you to vote to keep the current Healthcare system in place for now. Vote “No” on Amendment 69.

Works Cited

Daley, John. “Campaign for Universal Health Care in Colorado Seeks Bernie Sanders’ Help.”

NPR. NPR, 29 July 2016. Web. 12 Aug. 2016.

McGraw, Scott. “Amendment 69 Is Bad for Colorado Businesses and Taxpayers.” Medium.

Coloradans for Coloradans, 23 May 2016. Web. 10 Aug. 2016.

Strescino, Peter. “Former House speaker against Amendment 69.” Pueblo Chieftain, The

(CO) 02 July 2016: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 10 Aug. 2016.

“Colorado State Health Care System, Amendment 69 (2016) — Ballotpedia.” Colorado State

Health Care System, Amendment 69 (2016) — Ballotpedia. Ed. Jason Swadley. Ballot

Pedia, 2016. Web. 10 Aug. 2016.

“Home — ColoradoCare.” ColoradoCare. ColoradoCare, n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2016.

“Reasons Why Vermont’s Single-Payer Health Plan Was Doomed from The Start.” Forbes. Ed.

Avik Roy. Forbes Magazine, 21 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 Aug. 2016.