Rapid Response: Op-Ed Attack on ColoradoCare
A recent article by Bloomberg’s Megan McArdle in the Denver Post claims that ColoradoCare will fail due to its egregious costs. She declares it will only bankrupt the state and in the end make healthcare worse for everyone. McArdle’s only evidence is a “nonpartisan” study released by the Colorado Health Institute (CHI) that states Colorado’s single payer proposal will not alleviate growing healthcare expenses. However, both the article and the study are incorrect.
Here are the flaws with both:
- They wrongly assume that ColoradoCare would not reduce growth in healthcare costs, even though the most conservative estimates, such as the Urban Institute’s study, conclude that a single-payer system would slow cost growth.
- They misrepresent the funding for ColoradoCare. CHI assumes that ColoradoCare would eliminate federal Medicaid funding that supplies $4 billion annually to the state’s healthcare budget, but there is no indication that this support will just disappear.
- McArdle states that the population of Colorado is too small to have the bargaining power to significantly lower medical equipment and pharmaceutical costs. However, countries who have even less people, such as New Zealand, have managed to supply all their residents with the care they need at lower costs.
Take Action! Call out this misinformation by:
- Liking comments like this one by Jed Shapiro and others, and writing your own comment
- Writing a Letter to the Editor of the Denver Post expressing your concern
- Replying to Bloomberg View’s tweet of McArdle’s Article
- Tweeting Megan McArdle
Single payer has proven itself to reduce not increase costs, by almost eliminating administrative overhead. Most of us are well, most of our lives, but with single payer we all share and thus remarkably reduce the cost of intense illness. It is this type of fear mongering that has kept us in an insurance based system, excluding the sick when covered costs are exceeded, and adding huge costs by a complex irrational system of benefit choices.
Single payer health care is the answer. Help keep Colorado care open!
For-profit health insurance is nothing but a license to kill for money. In every age demographic, 5% of that demographic accounts for 50% of the health care costs of that demographic, and 15% accounts for 85% of costs. Why incentivize efforts to collect money from the healthy 85% and spend as little as possible on the sick 15%?
For profit health insurance is essentially a legal permit to kill for money. In every age demographic, 5% of that demographic accounts for 50% of the health care costs of that demographic, and 15% for 85% of the costs. Why incentivize collecting money from the healthy 85% and spending as little as possible on the sick 15%?
Reputable, solid studies all support single payer as the only way to provide quality, comprehensive, and affordable health care for every one through removing excess profits, creating administrative efficiencies, and leveraging the power of a large enough pool of covered people. New Zealand, with fewer people than Colorado is a prime example.
Tell you what I’m thinking? OK.
I will retire in a few months. I’ve contributed to Medicare my whole life. I’ve planned carefully for my retirement based on my expected income and savings. I will be on Medicare in retirement and have no need or desire for ColoradoCare coverage, yet ColoradoCare will take a big chunk of my retirement income. There is no way I will vote for this thing.