Thread: Health Care Freedom Comes Colorado NO ObamaCare

Health Care Freedom Comes to Colorado

Saturday, August 14, 2010
By Stephen Moore

Add Colorado to the list of states that are saying to ObamaCare: not here, thank you.

Last week the state's Secretary of State certified that the Colorado Health Care Freedom Act had qualified for the November ballot. More than 130,000 Coloradoans signed petitions seeking to exempt themselves from major portions of federal health reform signed by President Obama in March.

Jon Caldara, the initiative's sponsor and president of the conservative Independence Institute, said the measure would make Colorado "a health care sanctuary state." If approved in November, citizens would be exempt from the mandate requiring them to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. They'll also be immune from government forcing them into a public or private health care plan against their will.

Opposition among liberals is so intense the state legislature even passed a law banning the practice of paying petition recruiters on a "per signature" basis, effectively requiring them to be paid by the hour. The Denver Daily News estimated the obstacle would have added about $2 per signature to the cost of qualifying the initiative for the ballot. The Independence Institute, however, successfully sued and forced an injunction against the law.

Now that it has qualified, the initiative still faces strong opposition from medical and liberal groups and most of the media. Local papers have taken to calling the measure's title -- Right to Health Care Choice -- "misleading," because ObamaCare doesn't deny anyone their choice of health care plans. The Colorado Supreme Court disagreed, approving the title in a 5-2 decision last month. The Colorado measure is similar to a Missouri initiative overwhelmingly approved by voters last week, and similar to those going forward in dozens of states. Says Mr. Caldara: "Our job is pretty easy: Talk about how important it is to leave medical decisions up to doctors and patients, while preserving as many options as possible for us to choose from."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... lenews_wsj

Good for Colorado and their State Supreme Court. Looks like Obama Care is on its way out, you know, now that it's passed and people have had a chance to read it.

Not so California, they are starting to make changes now as I write this note.