Understood, but Colorado won’t have market power over things sold on a national scale (drugs, devices) and can’t squeeze too hard on in-state services without the risk of providers simply leaving.
If the tax is only 7% on businesses, I wonder how many companies will move to CO from out of state. I think our company spends significantly more than that on providing health care to us, and we employees still pay 20% of the premium.
UHC at the state level can not work because of Tiebout competition. Tennesse, Oregon, and Vermont have all found this out. If this passes Colorado will find that out too.
I’ve always been skeptical of this argument–that doctors & hospital companies will just leave because the market is sour. Surely, the corporations that own the facilities might bug out, but they can’t very well take their buildings with them–At worst the state would just have to replace the equipment and can buy the facilities for a reasonable amount. As for doctors, they are people first, physicians second, and business owners…like 376th. As long as they’re not starving I don’t see them leaving their homes (or Colorado for that matter, this place is awesome!). In fact, with guaranteed payment and a client base consisting of practically everyone in the state (not just the well-insured) I could see them actually coming here from other areas.
I’m REALLY hoping this goes through. Someone has to get the ball rolling and we Coloradans have indeed proved that legalizing weed - both medical and recreational - is not going to end the world as we know it. Pubbies are still coming here to get votes, too, after all.
I think there would be a strong disincentive for healthcare providers to move their facilities out of state in response. The reason being? This is the central hub for many types of specialized health care in the general mountain area. Hospitals and specialists here treat patients from all over the mountain west. They would have to find another hub - one equally well served by transportation, etc., and that would involve a staggeing amount of money.
There should be time to poll every physician in Colorado before the election. Get on this, people. We’ll learn much from the effort, success or failure, and we should all be hoping it works.
Even if Colorado passes this, that is just the beginning. Right wing politicians, RW lawyers and the health care industry, and probably the media, will try to destroy the system in Colorado. The biggest fear they have is that uhc will work and other states will follow suit. So expect Colorado to become ground zero if they pass it, and the system may fail under the stress.
But I’d be surprised if we make it to 2030 without at least one state having a UHC system.
Perhaps, but states already run health care systems via Medicaid, and it’s a common complaint that reimbursement rates are too low to entice providers to participate.
If they are business owners 376th, why are the so reluctant to take Medicare and Medicaid patients, that they lose money on? Why does your bill get sent to collections if you don’t pay it? Even if some would be happy driving a Lexus instead of a Mercedes, what about those just starting out with a jillion dollars of medical school debt in a specialty like family practice that doesn’t pay that well relative to some others?
In the USA, cost is a barrier to health, and cost is a barrier to education. In several European countries, it is not.
So how did it work in Canada then?
That’s how the Canadian system came about – it started in province, worked well, was copied by others …
Here is one answer to your question, but I am not a health (or any other kind of) economist. Back in the 60s when Saskatchewan set up a provincial single payer system, health care was a lot cheaper. Part of the reason was that there were simply far fewer things that could be cured. I remember that in 1950 when my appendix was taken out, we had hospitalization insurance (Blue Cross), but nothing for doctor’s bills (Blue Shield did not yet exist). By the 60s, health insurance was getting bigger, but nothing like today. Also hospitals and doctor’s offices were a lot more spartan. It sounds incredible now, but I recall (correctly, I hope) that my 7 days in the hospital cost only $8 a day. (Incidentally, I do recall since I paid for it, that when my son was born in Switzerland, the hospital charged SFr50–about $12–a day in 1967.)
In other words, the health industry was small potatoes. I addition, big time lobbying had not yet taken off. But the fact was the Saskatchewan experiment was a big success and the Trudeau government successfully expanded it to the entire country. Or, more accurately, mandated every province to follow the Sask experience. And there is still a health care system in each province (and territory, I assume).
Could this happen today? I am not certain. I was disappointed when VT pulled back from the attempt. This whole jerry-rigged system that is Obamacare (Romneycare, whatever) is the result of trying to satisfy the insurance industry.