Evergreen, CO – Healthcare always seems to be a popular topic with everyone. Democrats want the government (taxpayers) to pay for all of it. As a result, businesses bleed money because of increasing costs, and consumers feel the pinch as well.
In fact, we as taxpayers get taxed to pay for it. If our employers offer health insurance, this is part of the compensation package in lieu of higher wages. We also end up with higher out of pocket costs. Pretty much if you’re a taxpayer, you get hit with healthcare costs from all sides.
As the Democrat presidential candidates are pushing a single-payer plan (government/we pay for everyone), the Colorado State Legislature has pushed a lot of expensive proposals – that we simply can’t afford.
One law passed in the 2019 legislative session was run by Jefferson County Democrat Representative Lisa Cutter. It mandated mental health coverage for private insurers while expanding Medicaid coverage.
Background paragraph: MediCARE is generally government-run healthcare for the elderly administered by the Federal Government. Medicaid is government-run healthcare for low-income people and is administered by the states with a bunch of strings and funding from the Feds. Medicaid under Obamacare (oversimplification, but still accurate), was expanded to cover more than just low-income citizens. For example, under the Obamacare-Medicaid expansion, Colorado jumped from one in every seven citizens covered under Medicaid to one in four. The goal here was to move everyone towards single-payer (socialist) healthcare.
Back to Rep. Cutter. Her bill had a price tag of $62 million for the state government. That is possibly a pittance compared to the cost to private insurers. Even the Democrat-controlled Joint Budget Committee (The budget writers in the state legislature) balked at the price tag.
Now, we’re not going to wade into the debate on the necessity or non-necessity of mental healthcare. However, what we will cover is when the Democrats can’t afford their agenda!
All of their utopian proposals come with HUGE price-tags. They use government as a force to pass costs back to the taxpayer as well. Every time there is a new mandate for coverage, premiums go up. We all suffer.
Of course, Republicans can be just as bad when it comes to mandates for mental health. HB20-1086 Insurance Coverage Mental Health Wellness Exam is another insurance mandate that will raise the cost of healthcare for all of us. This bill is the darling of Republican Rep. Colin Larson also from Jefferson County.
The bottom line is we just cannot afford our current politicians.
Keep an eye on your legislators, folks! What they say to you in person or in speeches doesn’t always jibe with what they do while in office.
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