I urge you to consider Amendment 69, or ColoradoCare, carefully and do your own research. Especially consider the source of arguments that oppose this ethical decision to collectively care for our fellows and ourselves.

Our hard-earned healthcare dollars currently provide huge profits to the insurance and healthcare industry, so these industries are able to afford megabucks for lobbying.

Among the fortunes spent by U.S. industries just for lobbying in 2015, pharmaceuticals and health products topped the charts, forking over $240,218,911 to their army of well-paid promoters.

The insurance industry came in second, paying out $157,354,782. Hospitals and nursing homes, health professionals, and health services and HMOs together spent another quarter-billion dollars influencing us and our elected officials to create a profitable environment for them.

These industries exert huge influence, through think tanks which generate powerful self-serving strategies, media ads, legislative lawyers who write and promote regulations which favor industry, and gifted spokespeople and bloggers. They massively fund 99 percent of their mouthpiece, the misnamed “Coloradans for Coloradans,” to present us with paid-for opinion and “analysis.”

Their legion of lobbyists sweet-talk our elected officials, giving huge contributions to election campaigns. In the 2014 election cycle, Governor Hickenlooper received $346,568 from health insurance companies including Cigna and Wellpoint/Anthem.

These two companies have also donated $2 million to the Democratic Governors Association since 2009, which in turn gave $6 million to a pro-Hickenlooper PAC and $3.3 million toward television advertising.

That’s a lot of influence! Senator Bennet has received similar huge donations from this industry, as have the Democratic and Republican parties, and candidates opposing Amendment 69.

Have any of them addressed their hidden allegiance to big money? Nah.

Vote “Yes” on Amendment 69!

Kirby MacLaurin

Durango