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Thursday, October 22nd, 2015

Will Colorado Become the First State to Implement Single-Payer Health Care?

Author:     Michael Corcoran
Source:     truthout
Publication Date:     Tuesday, 20 October 2015 00:00
 Link: Will Colorado Become the First State to Implement Single-Payer Health Care?
Stephan:   In 1932 in New State Ice Co. v Liebmann Associate Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis made what I think is the relevant point about this story when he wrote, "(a) state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." (endnote) [New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 262 (1932)]. Americans in the different states have voted in our democracy, and we have the state of the states, and of the country as it is today. Colorado led the way on marijuana, and now has millions of dollars to spend on education and child care. Converting to single payer healthcare I predict will result in the significant drop in the costs of healthcare, and an improvement in the wellbeing of  the people of Colorado.
Colorado State Capitol Credit: Shutterstock

Colorado State Capitol
Credit: Shutterstock

The fight for a statewide single-payer health-care system has shifted from the Green Mountains to the Rocky Mountains: Colorado citizens are about to put single-payer up for a statewide ballot referendum in the 2016 election. If voters approve, the state constitution will be amended to create a statewide, publicly financed, universal system for the first time in US history.

After a long struggle, Vermont’s proposal for a similar plan died in January 2015, after a decision by the governor to abandon the plan. Green Mountain Care, as it was known, is the closest any state has come to implementing a public health-care system that covers everyone. So the failure was a major disappointment for advocates for social justice everywhere. But the setback didn’t stop activists in states across the country from pursuing similar reforms. Many in these states watched events in Vermont closely – to see what worked and what didn’t and to avoid the pitfalls that proved fatal.

The strategy for reform […]

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2 Comments

  1. Tom on Thursday, October 22, 2015 at 5:17 am

    I hope it works well an sets a good example for the rest of the country.

  2. Rev. Dean on Thursday, October 22, 2015 at 5:29 am

    This is definitely a step in the right direction and may spur more states, especially my state of Pennsylvania which uses their lottery proceeds to help seniors, to at least think about a single payer system (I hope and pray it does). The “donut hole” problem could be solved this way and that is a big problem for my family right now when my wife has to pay such high costs for her medication the profits of which just enrich some Pharmaceutical companies and their CEO’s, but do not give much help to the patients. She is a blind diabetic with serious heart problems, and has to pay for 12 different prescriptions and in the donut hole, the costs are constantly rising due to the lack of oversight of the state’s non-regulation of pricing. They are gouging us to death.