Due to the ambiguous nature of ColoradoCare, it is difficult to compute the out-of-pocket costs associated with Amendment 69, however, using the online ColoradoCare.org/calculator, the estimated portion of the $25 billion out-of-pocket costs for retirees could well be over $12,000 per year with no Colorado health care benefits.
Because many have retired from an out-of-state company that, as part of an earned retirement package, may pay for Medicare or supplemental health insurance. These out-of-state companies would contribute nothing toward the cost of ColoradoCare and likely would terminate health plan contributions to the retiree. This situation could be true for hundreds of thousands of Colorado retirees that moved to this great state for its affordable tax rates.
Colorado would no longer attract out-of-state retirees sacrificing millions of dollars of economic benefits to the state’s economy, and creating thousand of jobs. Retirees likely would not select a state in which to retire that has the highest state income tax in the nation. The loss to the state’s economy would be catastrophic. In all probability, a significantly large number of folks currently living in Colorado would be forced economically to live elsewhere. The effect on the real estate market could be serious due to large numbers of retirees leaving the state. This is just the tip of the iceberg for possible unintended consequences of Amendment 69.
Heath care should belong to the federal government in the form of either the Affordable Care Act (with a lot of fixes) and possible Medicare for all where everyone belongs to Medicare and pays the affordable medicare premium. Health care insurance should not determine where it is possible to live.
One other possible issue is any person working in Colorado probably would not be able to keep ColoradoCare should they move or get transferred out of the state, therefor losing their health insurance. Again, beware the unintended consequences of this ill-thought-out proposal and vote “no” on Amendment 69.
Fred Rusk
Durango
