Proposal would make Colorado first state to provide health care 
 
 Colorado voters will decide next year whether this state should be the first to pay for comprehensive health care for residents. 
 
 Proponents of a single-payer state system gathered enough signatures to put ColoradoCare on the ballot, the secretary of state's office announced Monday. 
 
 They needed 98,492 valid signatures to put a state-governed health care system to a vote. After reviewing a 5 percent sample of the 158,831 signatures submitted, the secretary of state projected that the valid total would be 110 percent of the number required — and certified that Initiative 20, the "State Health Care System," will be on the 2016 ballot. 
 
 Residents would choose their own health care providers, but ColoradoCare would pay the bills. 
 
 The measure is likely to ignite a fiery debate because of the costs involved. Backers estimate ColoradoCare would raise $25 billion a year for health-care costs through a proposed 10 percent payroll tax. Critics decry it as a massive expansion of government that would double the size of the state budget. 
 
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 "We're all excited. This is really important for the people of Colorado," said Ivan Miller, executive director of ColoradoCare Yes and head of the Colorado Foundation for Universal Health Care. 
 
 "Gathering signatures is really tough. I think the political consensus was we didn't have a prayer." 
 
 Miller, a psychologist and author of a book on health-care reform, contends that if the initiative passes, residents will gain premium health care coverage for $5 billion less than they pay now. ColoradoCare would slash administrative costs of private insurance and negotiate bulk rates for pharmaceuticals. 
 
 The coverage would extend to "anybody who earns income and lives in Colorado," he said. 
 
 The initiative calls for a 21-member governing board from seven regions of the state. Its first members would be appointed by the governor and legislative leaders, but an elected board would succeed them. 
 
 Miller said the board could use any excess revenues to pay refunds or enlarge benefits, but it could not raise the payroll tax without voter approval. 
 
 Opponents call ColoradoCare a gamble that would send Colorado down a path no other state has tried. 
 
 "A single-payer system would destroy our industry. I don't think there's any question about it," said Byron McCurdy, board president of the Colorado State Association of Health Underwriters. 
 
 He said nearly one-fifth of Colorado jobs are associated with the health care industry. 
 
 If the initiative passes, "I think we'd have trouble recruiting physicians," he said, and some hospitals "are fighting just to survive. The money's got to come from somewhere." 
 
 The proponents' numbers are "a little pie-in-the-sky," he said. "I can't believe you'd have a better health care system. It just doesn't compute." 
 
 Colorado Hospital Association spokeswoman Cara Welch said the hospitals have not taken a formal position yet, noting that the initiative just qualified for the ballot. 
 
 Rick Ridder, a veteran Colorado campaign consultant, said he expects opponents of the initiative to raise more money, but the biggest spenders don't always win. 
 
 "I think the key piece is whether the proponents are able to communicate the benefits" in comparison with the tax increase, he said. "That's the crux. If you're able to communicate the benefits to the citizens, you can win." 
 
 Under the proposed system, people could still choose their medical providers, but the bills would be paid by ColoradoCare instead of private insurance companies. 
 
 To pay for state coverage, employers would pay 6.67 percent in payroll taxes and employees would kick in 3.33 percent, for a total of 10 percent of the payroll. Self-employed people would pay 10 percent of their net income. People who qualify for existing federal health programs could continue to receive the same benefits. 
 
 If ColoradoCare passes, the state would apply for a waiver from the Affordable Care Act. Colorado would also have the first statewide universal health care system in the country. 
 
 "Colorado deserves a better option, and now they can vote on one," said state Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver, a medical doctor who has championed universal health care. "Health care costs continue to rise every year, hurting Coloradans' chances to get ahead. It's time we get the insurance industry out of the driver's seat and put families in charge of their health care." 

 Supporters of universal health care have gathered enough signatures to put on next year's ballot a plan to make Colorado the first state to opt out of the federal health law and replace it with taxpayer-funded coverage for all. 
 
 Proponents submitted 158,831 qualified signatures, about 60,000 more than required to put the measure on the ballot, Secretary of State Wayne Williams said Monday. The question would make Colorado the first state to opt out of the federal Affordable Care Act and replace it with universal health care. 
 
 The campaign is expected to face intense opposition and could make for a heavily funded, highly visible debate over the viability of single-payer health care in a key swing state in the 2016 presidential election. 
 
 Vermont lawmakers passed universal health care in 2011. But three years later, the state abandoned the plan as too expensive. 
 
 A Harris Poll released in early September found 63 percent of Americans to 21 percent majority favors a universal health care system. And a 76 percent majority also agreed that since most other advanced countries can afford to provide universal health insurance, so could the United States. 
 
 The ColoradoCareYES campaign says employers would have to pay a new tax — about 7 percent of a worker's wages into the health co-op, on top of deductions for Social Security and Medicare. Employees would have a payroll tax of about 3 percent. Both employers and workers then would not have to pay premiums to a private health insurer. 
 
 Residents would choose their own health-care providers but ColoradoCare would pay the bills, according to the Denver Post. 
 
 The ColoradoCaresYes campaign says those taxes would raise enough money to cover children and adults who do not work. They say the plan will cost $3 billion a year but will save $9 billion in health care administration costs compared with the current system. 
 
 Skeptics say costs would run out of control. 
 
 "A single-payer system would destroy our industry. I don't think there's any question about it," Byron McCurdy, board president of the Colorado State Association of Health Underwriters told the Post. He said almost one-fifth of all Colorado jobs are associated with the health-care industry. 
 
 Al Jazeera with The Associated Press
– The residents of one US state could become the first to reject ObamaCare next year, Al Jazeera reports. Surprisingly they'd be dumping it for something even more liberal. Officials announced Monday ColoradoCareYES collected enough signatures—158,831—to get Initiative 20 on the ballot. If passed, the bill would replace the national Affordable Care Act with statewide universal health care. "Colorado deserves a better option, and now they can vote on one," the Denver Post quotes one state senator. Under ColoradoCare, health insurance for every resident would be paid for through a 10% payroll tax—6.67% paid by employers and 3.33% paid by employees. Residents would choose their own provider, and ColoradoCare would foot the bill. The ColoradoCareYES campaign states the 10% tax would raise $25 billion per year, enough to cover everyone, including unemployed adults and children, the Post reports. According to Al Jazeera, a recent poll showed 63% of Americans want universal health care, but ColoradoCare is expected to face a major battle. Opponents of Initiative 20—who are expected to out-fundraise supporters—claim universal health care would double the state budget, cost jobs, shutter hospitals, and make it harder to recruit physicians, the Post reports. According to Al Jazeera, Vermont voters passed universal health care in 2011 only to get rid of it after three years over cost.