Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Colorado Rejects Single-Payer Measure, Approves Right-To-Die Initiative
Denver Post: ColoradoCare Measure Amendment 69 Defeated Soundly
Amendment 69, the ballot measure known as ColoradoCare that would have created a universal health care system in Colorado, was soundly defeated Tuesday night. (Ingold, 11/9)
KUSA: Colorado Decides Against Controversial ColoradoCare
The state constitutional amendment would have replaced most private health insurance with a state-run, single-payer system called ColoradoCare. It would have been paid for through new income and payroll taxes as well as funding from the federal government. But whether that pool of money would have been enough to cover the costs was the subject of heated debate. (Biassou and Staver, 11/8)
Huffington Post: Single-Payer Health Care Dream Dies In Colorado
Colorado voters rejected a ballot measure that would have created a first-in-the-nation single-payer health insurance system, a significant setback for progressive proponents of universal health care. Tuesday’s defeat of Amendment 69 was decisive, as predicted. Polling ahead of Election Day showed that two-thirds of residents opposed the measure, which would have established a program called ColoradoCare to cover most people in the state. (Young, 11/8)
Denver Business Journal: Election 2016: ColoradoCare State Health System Loses Big
Coloradans have soundly rejected the idea of creating a state-chartered, single-payer health-insurance system Tuesday, sending ColoradoCare to defeat. ... Amendment 69 would have imposed 10 percent payroll taxes on every worker in the state to create a system that would have replaced private health insurance and would have supplemented federal plans like Medicare and TriCare. (Sealover, 11/8)
Reuters: Colorado Voters Reject Measure To Create Universal Healthcare
ColoradoCare was intended to greatly reduce the number of uninsured residents in the state, but opponents feared the tax hike and sweeping changes to public policy would ripple through the state’s economy. (11/8)
Huffington Post: Colorado Voters Approve Right-To-Die Initiative
Colorado voters approved a ballot measure on Tuesday that will give some terminally ill patients in the state the option to seek life-ending medication from a doctor. Under Proposition 106, a so-called “right-to-die” initiative, two physicians must agree that an adult has a terminal illness, has six months or less to live and is mentally competent. A doctor may then prescribe an approved patient the drug secobarbital, a prescription sleeping aid medication that can cause death in higher doses, which the patient must self-administer. (Wing, 11/8)
NBC News: Colorado Projected To Pass 'Aid-In-Dying' Measure Proposition 106
Colorado's ballot proposition that allows the terminally ill to obtain drugs to end their lives is expected to pass, according to an NBC News projection. The Proposition 106 bill would allow those with a prognosis of under six months to live to get "aid-in-dying medication" to be self-administered. (Helsel, 11/8)
