For those of you in interested in one of the best policy positions of the Democratic platform, medicare-for-all, it is on the ballot in Colorado this election year. ColoradoCare is universal coverage for Coloradans in an enhanced medicare-for-all type system that covers everyone and enhances benefits. Health care as a constitutional right in America coupled with landmark health care market reform. It may well get the thumbs up from the electorate for a 2019 launch date.
In this piece, Why Conservatives Should Vote for ColoradoCare, a conservative argument for ColoradoCare is presented quite well. I couldn't have said it better myself, although I would have said much more about the ingenious design and the tremendous benefits of ColoradoCare for patients, providers, employers and the economy. I am though encouraged by this very conservative gentleman’s support!
I happen to totally agree with the conservative gentleman. So does Noam Chomsky. Noam Chomsky Supports Colorado's Universal Health Care Ballot Measure.
An allyRight before this election, the Colorado Division of Insurance is poised to allow rate increases of 17% (weighted average) for 2017 after 10% this year. Premiums will double in six years at this rate. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, which is a major insurer here, would get a 42% increase on individual policies on the state exchange, Connect for Health.
So dysfunctional is the Colorado market that despite the fact that Coloradans pay insurance premiums aggregating 30 Billion dollars, we here still have a worsening problem in our society with 400,000 uninsured, 850,000 underinsured (whose out of pockets costs too high to take advantage of insurance benefits), 10,000 bankrupt and 500 dead. In our society. In 2016. Insane. ColoradoCare reduces all these figures to zero, and serves the many underserved markets, particularly rural counties.
ColoradoCare increases jobs by 31,000 in year one by making Colorado a mecca for employers, whose health care benefit costs are capped at 6-2/3% of payroll (workers compensation is subsumed in ColoradoCare with expanded benefits), and a mecca for labor, as employees pay only 3-1/3%, that's all, including spouse and kids. The self-employed pay both parts, as with social security.
A main feature is that ColoradoCare breaks the stranglehold of the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies on the health care market in Colorado, which is for all intents and purposes a noncompetitive market (you could even characterize it as an extortion racket). The market power returns to the consumer through a transformative member-owned non-profit payment system that gives its members the purse strings and its rightful control of the health care market. It is designed to reduce costs for 80% of the public.
By eliminating the health insurance companies 20% off the top, negotiating with drug companies, taking advantage of new technology, and reducing waste and fraud, ColoradoCare should save billions of dollars even after billions of the savings are plowed into covering everyone, eliminating deductibles, new technology, and additional benefits including mental health care, substance abuse care, and probably the most common basic vision, hearing and dental care. ColoradoCare caps health care cost at 10% of state taxable income (after exclusions of up to $75000 for retired couples), unless an increase is approved by referendum.
ColoradoCare does all this and caps premium increases at zero (unless there is a referendum to increase the 25 billion dollar premium tax, which through the magic of revenue optimization (read spending money on actual health care - not bloat), replaces the 30 billion dollars Coloradans spend on premiums.