The People React to Amendment 69

On election day, I got the chance to go around and ask people questions on how they truly felt about the new amendments that were being presented to Coloradans. The most major issue that I thought needed to be asked about was Amendment 69, or ColoradoCare.  This amendment touted universal healthcare that would be operated by twenty-one trustees that oversaw what types of equipment and medicine is given to patients.

At first I thought that there would be diversity in the answers that were received from people, but as I continued to ask, the answers were all too similar; the recurring slams against amendment 69 were made clear.

These persistent statements would range from “That’s just dumb” to “Why on earth would we do this?” It was understood that this amendment could change the health care system in a way that hurts the medical procedure in Colorado. One may say “ColoradoCare is going to take every damn good doctor and drive them away” while another says “ if that were to ever be ratified I think a patient will die before receiving [any] ColoradoCare.”

As I tried to get people to see the other side, the results were antithetical to amendment 69’s design. For example, when asked about the pros of ColoradoCare, many voters acted with outrage, saying “there are none.  Why, if I’m self-employed, do I have to pay 10 percent of my payroll tax?”

It seemed no one was able to come up with a truly viable reason for the payroll tax associated with ColoradoCare.

In the end, one thing was agreed on: Amendment 69 was not a reasonable amendment that would benefit us now or even in the long run.