An effort to opt Colorado of the federal Affordable Care Act so it can create its own universal health care system died in the state Senate Friday, when the sponsor counted the votes and realized she didn’t have the necessary two-thirds majority needed to move the proposed constitutional amendment to voters.
Sen. Irene Aguilar moved to table her ambitious Colorado Health Care Cooperative act when it became clear she didn’t have the four Republican votes needed to pass the bill out of the Senate.
The bill would have requested a waiver from implementing the Affordable Care Act — otherwise known as Obamacare — and replaced Medicaid and Medicare with a statewide health care cooperative system paid for by payroll taxes — 6 percent paid by employers and 3 percent by employees.
Aguilar said she introduced the bill in order to impose more local control on health care spending and to eliminate waste.
“We already pay for everyone in our state to get access to health care,” she said. “What I want us to do is pay for health care wisely.”
She pointed to studies showing that a Colorado plan would be nearly five percent cheaper than Obamacare by 2024 and it would insure more people.
Although the bill was headed for the graveyard, Republican Sen. Kevin Lundberg argued against it as though it were poised to pass. He decried what he called its $36 billion implementation cost and the $16 billion in new taxes it would require.
“We cannot afford to put the government fully in charge” of health care, he said.
Other Republicans were less ready to fight over a measure that was about to be shelved. Before seconding Aguilar’s motion to lay over the bill until next year, Republican Sen. Larry Crowder thanked her for provoking debate on the issue and conceded that something needs to be done.
The debate may not be over entirely. The Denver Post reports that a separate group is working to put universal health care on the ballot for the fall.
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