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Letter: Look at ColoradoCare impact

In response to the Guest opinion “Why conservatives should vote for ColoradoCare.”

Did it ever occur to anyone to look into the facts and how this will truly affect the individuals of Colorado?

“All Coloradans earning income would have to pay taxes to support the system. ColoradoCare would collect 10 percent payroll tax on workers based in the state with the employee paying 3.33 percent and the employer paying 6.67 percent. Non-payroll income will be taxed at 10 percent. This includes self-employment, interest and dividends, capital gains, business income that is reported on personal tax forms, real estate income, retirement account distributions and Social Security benefits.” Coloradohealthinstitute.org



The current state payroll tax for Colorado is 4.63 percent. This would mean individuals will be paying a total of 7.96 percent — for every $1,000 earned, you will pay $79.60. Can a small business afford to pay 10 percent of its income to this health care coverage? Talk about lowering their profit margin. Can the eligible Social Security recipient really afford to relinquish anymore of their benefit?

It is difficult enough to pay rent in the tourist towns of Colorado, let alone paying into health care to cover all of Colorado. When rental income is taxed at another 10 percent, will landlords raise their rent?



What will this do to the current health-care system? By voting “yes,” you are asking for the higher wage earners to move out of state. This means the income that these higher earners would be pouring back into the state and local business are now going to put this money to good use out of the state.

Look at the government-run Medicare program, less and less money is distributed to cover costs for health care. Will you really be getting the coverage you need from this without a supplemental insurance? From what I know about government-run health care, you stay on the phone for hours just trying to talk to a person about getting set up, then you spend countless hours trying to make sure the care or services you need is covered.

I would also like to know if anyone can name any government program that has consistently been within the budget. If we vote “yes,” we are asking for bad health care, less income and in the long run the system will most likely fail.

Where is this really going to take Colorado? And who will be to blame? I hope that every voter will consider the facts about Amendment 69, and consider how this will affect you and your family. This is not a solution to fix the health-care problems. Voting “no,” does not mean you do not care about people’s health. It simply means that the government is not the solution for fixing the problem.

J. Albert

Glenwood Springs


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