Colorado CareToday, the Secretary of State’s Office certified enough signatures for Colorado Care to make the 2016 ballot.  The initiative, dubbed Amendment 69 (insert your own joke here) needed 98,492 signatures to make the ballot and delivered 158,831.

The proposal, universal health care, will add $25 billion to the state budget, essentially doubling the state budget. The revenue would come from a 10% state tax increase with 6.67% paid by employers and 3.33% paid by employees.  The Washington Times revealed that this $25 billion boondoggle would be managed by a non-profit cooperative. This ballot initiative comes on the heels of news that Colorado’s Division of Insurance planned to shutter the state’s ailing health care cooperative. Several other state health cooperatives met the same fate due to an inability to make the business model work.

In 2013, Colorado voters rejected a $1 billion tax increase by a nearly two-to-one margin, ushering in a rash of conservative local electeds. This measure is due to cost $25 billion. The right can only hope that this ballot initiative is as successful in 2016 in turning out conservatives as Amendment 66 was in 2013. Those on the left take a Pollyannaish view of how this will impact Democratic candidates. T.R. Reid, a spokesman for the Amendment 69 campaign, offered this insight:

“I think the presidential election will probably benefit us. I think (U.S. Sen.) Michael Bennet and Hillary Clinton will probably have to endorse our plan. And then we in turn help them because we’re going to turn out the people who vote Democratic.”

Oh, now we understand.  Please, please Sen. Bennet support this insane plan to rob small businesses and Coloradans of hard-earned dollars.  What a gift this ballot initiative is to liberty loving Coloradans in 2016.