Colorado could become the first state in the nation to adopt a single-payer healthcare system, but a unique bipartisan coalition is fighting it.
The state’s residents will vote Tuesday on whether to adopt ColoradoCare, which would create the state’s own healthcare system that would cover all healthcare services for residents. It would come with much higher taxes to the tune of 10 percent payroll and 10 percent non-payroll taxes.
The ballot referendum comes after Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders advocated for a national single-payer system.
However, in a unique twist, traditionally Democratic allies such as abortion rights groups and the state’s governor oppose the Colorado measure.
Proponents say it would create a new universal healthcare system and would allow residents to choose their primary care doctor. The Yes campaign’s website argues that state residents and businesses would save $4.5 billion by not having to pay deductibles or co-pays to go to the doctor’s office.
To create the program, the state would install a 10 percent non-payroll tax and a 10 percent payroll tax. It also would add $25 billion to the state budget, more than doubling its size.
While universal healthcare is a central goal for Democrats, even a plank in the party’s latest national platform, prominent Democrats in the state including Gov. John Hickenlooper and liberal groups have come out against the measure.
“Our reforms are just beginning to bear fruit and it would be premature to dramatically remake our health care system at this time,” Hickenlooper said earlier this year.
The state chapter of the liberal group ProgressNow also opposes the measure.
While saying that single-payer healthcare is a goal for progressives, there are “real policy problems with Amendment 69 that its supporters did not anticipate,” ProgressNow Colorado’s executive director Ian Silverii said.
The group pointed to studies from NARAL Pro Choice Colorado that said the provision could hinder access to abortions. A statement from the pro-choice group said a section of Colorado’s state constitution prohibits public funds from being used to pay for abortions. The group believes insured women who have access to abortion services as part of their benefits would lose access to that coverage under Colorado Care.
“While the Supreme Court has held that it’s unconstitutional for a state to place an ‘undue burden’ on a woman’s access to abortion services, there is no federal constitutional requirement that a state actually fund those services,” the group said.
The Yes campaign touts endorsements from filmmaker Michael Moore and Sanders, who sees Colorado as a bellwether for the issue of single payer.
“Colorado can send a shock that will be heard all over this country and all over the world,” Sanders said at a recent rally. “If you can pass ColoradoCares, then states all over this country will be following in your footsteps.”
Supporters concede the measure would cause job losses.
“Although most health care insurance administration jobs lost would be out-of-state, some jobs would be lost in Colorado, and job churn would increase for one year,” the Yes campaign’s website said. “The savings from ColoradoCare would stimulate the economy and create a greater number of new jobs.”
The No campaign doubts the economic estimates, saying that uncertainty in the healthcare system could scare companies from relocating to the state.
Large companies with national presence would have to navigate multiple healthcare systems and “make exceptions for Colorado, making our state a less attractive place to do business,” the campaign’s website said.
A September poll from firm Magellan Strategies found that 65 percent of those surveyed would oppose ColoradoCare, just 27 percent support it and another 8 percent were undecided.
Slightly more Democrats oppose the amendment (45 percent) than support it at 41 percent, the poll found.
“These findings are not that surprising considering Colorado’s history of rejecting large tax increases,” the firm said.
Magellan conducted a telephone survey of 500 likely voters from Aug. 29 to 31, and the poll has a margin of 4.38 percent.
