It’s not even close. Even with a tax $25 billion tax increase to double the size of the state government, there still will not be enough money to cover the single payer health care system proposed under Amendment 69, according to an independent report published today.
The Colorado Health Institute released a detailed financial analysis of the socialized medicine proposal that will appear on this November’s statewide ballot, indicating that ColoradoCare would break even during its first year, but would fall short in subsequent years without further tax increases. The program would simply not be able to keep up with increases in the cost of healthcare year after year.
On top of the projected shortfall, the study pointed out additional uncertainties that could further stress any ColoradoCare universal coverage model. Some of these include:
- Unknown impact of businesses not locating in Colorado because of the increased payroll tax expenses that are used to fund ColoradoCare
- Unknown impact of people and businesses leaving the state because of increased costs
- Unknown impact of people moving to Colorado to take advantage of the universal healthcare offering
In addition to these unknowns, the study did not even consider transition start-up and transition costs. The state would implement a 0.9% increase in the income and payroll tax next year to cover the start-up expenses.
There is no solid understanding as to whether this would even be enough, and, let’s be honest, government does not have the best track record in projecting costs and timelines.
Amendment 69 is nothing short of a Pandora’s Box of unknown costs and bureaucracy. We simply cannot afford to bet our state’s economy and our citizens’ health care on a proposition that would, from its inception, be on life support.