Ballot measure would ask Colorado to scrap ObamaCare for single-payer-style plan (Fox)

[jpak]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/11/02/ballot-measure-would-ask-colorado-to-scrap-obamacare-for-single-payer-style/?intcmp=hpbt3

Colorado voters could be asked to weigh in on a far-reaching, first-in-the-nation plan to scrap ObamaCare and replace it with a single-payer-style health care system.

A single-payer system is one where a single agency administers health care fees and costs, while medical care itself is handled by the private sector. Vermont leaders backed off a similar plan a year ago, but activists in Colorado are pushing their own version in the form of a November 2016 ballot question.

Supporters appear poised to get that question on the ballot. According to The Denver Post, supporters turned in more than 156,000 signatures for the measure, well over the 98,492 needed. As a last step, the signatures will still need to be verified.

The new proposal is called ColoradoCare, and its built-in tax coupled with yet another round of sweeping changes to the health care system make it a lightning rod. Funding for the $25 billion program -- about the size of the state's budget -- would come from a 10 percent payroll tax on residents and employers.

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[madamesilverspurs]

1. What the article conveniently "forgets" to mention

is that Sen. Aguilar, quoted in the story, is a physician. She got into politics in an effort to make health care accessible for everyone. As a state senator she has been remarkably effective, in no small part due to her determination to remain accessible and answerable to her constituents.

[kacekwl]

2. Please can this be put on the

national ballot. ACA is just a gift to the insurance industry.

[PoliticAverse]

4. There is no such thing as a "national ballot" measure. n/t

[riversedge]

5. Indeed..

I recall--when the aca was being set up, Pres Obama himself (i am sure the quotations are to be found in the Internet somewhere)--said that it was health insurance reform. And one of the critiques was that there was too few price controls put in place--which I agree. I also agree with this state approach.


......People who are on Medicare or covered through the VA would be given the option to stick with their current plan.

Beyond that, ColoradoCare would offer a "comprehensive, high-quality" universal healthcare through a 21-member board of elected members, advocates say. Under the plan, the system would be controlled by this Board of Trustees, not by a state government agency.

Proponents like Aguilar say this would open up health care to the thousands of underinsured residents in the state.

Critics claim it's an untested and pricey gamble Colorado cannot afford to make.

"ColoradoCare would dismantle Colorado's health insurance industry, result in reduced services ... a loss of doctors and other professionals, and a massive, economically harmful tax increase with future tax increases likely," Kelly Sloan, a Colorado-based consultant and policy fellow at Centennial Institute, told FoxNews.com.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

3. I've been reading up on this proposal

and there are still some unanswered questions, primarily, which services will require co-pays, and how much will those co-pays be? How will they handle people whose employers won't be paying into the system, such as active/retired military and active/retired federal employees? What are the covered services? How are they going to control costs when they won't be able to force doctors to turn away other insurance?