Amendment 69, AKA “ColoradoCare”

This article is written for my friends, neighbors, associates, and family members who are voting citizens of Colorado.  Earlier this year I learned and wrote about a potential amendment to the Colorado Constitution.  The more I study it, the worse it gets.  If approved by a simple majority of Colorado voters, it will create a single-payer, government-controlled, health-care, tax and spend system.  It will force all Coloradans under burdensome taxation and the iron-fisted rule of unaccountable, mastermind-state regulators and bureaucrats (see: The Plan).

Amendment 69, or “ColoradoCare,” is now receiving some media attention.  Why did it “fly under the radar” for over a year?  Why has it been hidden within the haze of an emotionally charged general election?  Beginning in April 2015, ColoradoCare was pushed through the petition process.  Last November 2015, the secretary of state certified the needed signatures and approved the proposed amendment, adding it to the November 8, 2016, general election ballot.  Why couldn’t this idea have gone through the legislative process and open public debate?  Why does this concept need to be a Constitutional Amendment?

I have made telephone calls and knocked on doors, speaking with hundreds of Colorado citizens.  A handful of people have heard about this amendment, which shall fundamentally transform Colorado into a Canadian or British Empire style, socialist-health care state.  When registered voters grant me an opportunity to talk with them, they are both surprised and shocked what this amendment shall do to them, robbing them of their hard-earned personal wealth, retirement portfolios, and taxing the elderlies’ social security.  Who in today’s economy can absorb an additional 10% tax to their earned or unearned income?

Another thing I have noticed as I walk neighborhoods and encounter young and old socialists, they are well versed in the salient points of ColoradoCare.  It seems they have been well prepared for the pending, feelings-based political battle.  They tell me this system will take care of all Coloradans health needs with no concern for its negative economic impacts.  Their positions fail to reach logical conclusions, which in all likelihood would expose unforeseen consequences embedded in thoughtless, “Good,” intentions.  For example, medical providers who have the means to move will take their practice to another state.  There is an old saying that applies to Amendment 69, “The highway to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

Moreover, these well-schooled activists know how to trick and deceive those who find Obamacare objectionable.  They tell listeners Amendment 69 will allow the State of Colorado to obtain a waiver from the unaffordable, “Affordable Care Act,” – AKA Obamacare.  What they will not disclose is what the Federal law requires for that waiver.  A state must create a system that is as strict or stricter than Obamacare.  In other words, Colorado must have as many as or more controls over health providers and recipients than does Obamacare, today.  As I read the fine print, ColoradoCare exercises much more regulatory control.  Thanks, but no thanks.

Leftists refuse to examine the historical evidence, which repeatedly demonstrates that all socialist health-care systems result in diminished care, lower-grade providers, fewer medical choices for patients, longer waiting periods to obtain needed procedures (see VAscandals), and rationed services.  Uncaring bureaucratic-designed system protocols must be followed or else doctors and hospitals shall not be paid for their medical services, even if obeying the dictated steps may cost the patient’s life.  This all stems from the founding ColoradoCare philosophy – “Treat the society as a whole rather than the individual patient.”  Once again, we see the criminal mind of Saul Alinsky’s ideology in action – “The ends justify the means.”

Obviously, I support self-governance, economic freedom and choice.  We will be governed by something.  Bureaucratic agencies remove personal choices and liberties.  I prefer self-governance, which requires virtue, faith, and freedom.  Since when have traffic laws inspired drivers to be courteous?  More laws, rules, and regulations are powerless to inspire greatness, excellence, or virtue.  I recently learned from EricMetaxas about the GoldenTriangle of Freedom, by Os Guinness, pictured below.

Amendment 69 removes all three sides of the triangle and replaces it with nothing more than an administrative tax collection and medical provider payment system.  It fails to address our real healthcare crisis, a finite number of medical service providers: doctors, nurses, and hospitals.  Colorado would be better served by developing realistic incentives to develop more medical professionals.

I hope my Colorado readers will take the time to understand the long-term implications of Amendment 69.  November 8, 2016 is fast approaching.  The leftist Democrats are counting on your ignorance of this proposed constitutional amendment.  Please choose liberty over ColoradoCare.  Amendment 69 will steal your liberty. Getting it back will not be easy because the State requires a super majority to repeal an amendment to Colorado’s constitution.

If you would like more details regarding this pending nightmare, call me at (720) 219-8516.