Dear Senator XXX,
As the Affordable Care Act has taken effect, millions of Coloradans have been harmed through the collapse of the state’s failed Obamacare co-op, skyrocketing premiums and more than 300,000 cancelled health care plans. A government-mandated healthcare system remains a highly contentious debate that has now landed on the November 2016 Colorado ballot in the form of Amendment 69, so-called “single-payer” healthcare.
Despite Obamacare’s glaring failures, a single-payer healthcare system remains a primary goal of many on the left, such as your colleague Senator Bernie Sanders. Supporters of single-payer often argue that Obamacare simply did not go far enough, and they seek to remedy that in Colorado by imposing a government-run system with this initiative.
The price of this government takeover of Colorado’s health sector would not be cheap. Amendment 69 would cost Colorado taxpayers an estimated $25 billion, supposedly paid for with a new 10 percent, across-the-board state payroll tax; in other words, a massive tax hike on the middle-class (and if our experience with Obamacare and its state exchanges are a harbinger, this cost is grossly underestimated).
As you may know, Senator Sanders’ home state of Vermont – a well-known haven for progressive economic policy – abandoned the goal of single-payer healthcare last year amid concerns about the plan’s whopping $2 billion price tag – which would have required significant tax increases. Even Vermont’s governor, who ran on single-payer, conceded that the plan was bad for Vermont.
Many in Vermont also feared that the quality of healthcare would diminish significantly via a single-payer system. In ‘single-payer’ Canada and Great Britain alone there are thousands of patients languishing on waiting lists for treatment, many of whom are forced to wait months before they can see a doctor. Here in the United States, we have already witnessed the destructive effects of a single payer system with the scandals that have rocked the Veterans Administration, subjecting thousands of veterans to shocking mistreatment, mismanaged care, and even death.
With such a monumental decision facing Colorado voters next year, we deserve to know the position of our statewide leaders on this issue.
Senator XXX, do you support or oppose Amendment 69, which would impose a one-size-fits-all, multibillion dollar single-payer healthcare system in Colorado?
Sincerely,
Tim Phillips Michael Fields
President Colorado State Director
