ColoradoCare would replace Obamacare with statewide single-payer plan — at $25 billion cost

[Old_Mil]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/25/coloradocare-would-replace-obamacare-with-statewid/

"Proponents of a statewide single-payer health care system have submitted 156,107 signatures, far more than the 98,492 required to qualify for the November 2016 ballot, to the Colorado secretary of state’s office for verification.

If the measure qualifies, Colorado would immediately become ground zero for a national debate on the concept of steep tax increases in return for guaranteed health care coverage for all residents, all against the backdrop of a pivotal presidential race.

The program, called ColoradoCare, comes with a steep price tag: $25 billion, which would be raised with a 10 percent payroll tax increase."

Something to consider if you are heading there after residency, particularly on a 1099 basis. Under the current scheme, employers would be responsible for 2/3rds of that 10%, employees 1/3rd...if you're 1099, you'd get it with it all. Colorado already has a 4.63% state income tax, this would be over and above that and make Colorado the highest tax state in the nation by a good margin.

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[GeneralVeers]

I'm glad they are doing this. States should be the ones to decide on their health systems, not the Federal government. It will be an interesting laboratory test of Single Payer, much like the experiment Colorado is doing now with legalized Marijuana.

Watch as high income people, and employers flee the State for nearby Utah, Texas, or Nevada. Watch it cost more than projected, cover fewer people, and create a bigger shortage of physicians.

 

[Old_Mil]

Maybe it will be enough of a welfare magnet to suck alll the medicaid superusers out of the middle of the country and we can go back to having a normal practice...

 

[Birdstrike]

The last state that tried single payer pulled the plug on it:

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20141223/NEWS/312239965

 

[GeneralVeers]

Socialists never learn that something that goes against human nature (like free programs) will inevitably fail, or cost incredibly more than was planned. They try this same experiment over and over with exactly the same results.

I think that all of the States should be free to try out absolutely terrible ideas, and fail miserably so that hopefully others don't repeat the failures.

 

[filhodeinferno]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/25/coloradocare-would-replace-obamacare-with-statewid/

"Proponents of a statewide single-payer health care system have submitted 156,107 signatures, far more than the 98,492 required to qualify for the November 2016 ballot, to the Colorado secretary of state’s office for verification.

If the measure qualifies, Colorado would immediately become ground zero for a national debate on the concept of steep tax increases in return for guaranteed health care coverage for all residents, all against the backdrop of a pivotal presidential race.

The program, called ColoradoCare, comes with a steep price tag: $25 billion, which would be raised with a 10 percent payroll tax increase."

Something to consider if you are heading there after residency, particularly on a 1099 basis. Under the current scheme, employers would be responsible for 2/3rds of that 10%, employees 1/3rd...if you're 1099, you'd get it with it all. Colorado already has a 4.63% state income tax, this would be over and above that and make Colorado the highest tax state in the nation by a good margin.

If this passes, the Denver market might just get a little bit easier to crack for EM docs who want to live by the mountains. That being said, I'd be shocked if a bill with such a steep tax hike would pass in a state as purple as Colorado.

 

[Vandalia]

Socialists never learn that something that goes against human nature (like free programs) will inevitably fail, or cost incredibly more than was planned.

The devil whispering in my ear wants to point out the number of people who say that communism/socialism never works, but at the same time are scared to death of the Chinese economy.

Or that "socialized medicine" will destroy our economy, but are worried about the trade deficit with Japan or Germany.

 

[Old_Mil]

Today, the Chinese economy is more along the lines of what the Germans had under national socialism than the pure communism that Marx and Lenin preached. It's most accurately described as state capitalism.

Socialized medicine doesn't destroy economies. Socialized medicine destroys medicine.

 

[GeneralVeers]

I'm writing this from Shenzen, China. The Burger King ads in the Metro definitely are not owned by the communist Party.....