As a concerned citizen, I submitted one of the proposals that was evaluated by the Commission. It scored in the top ten technically in its ability to meet the criteria set forth by the Commission.

While my specific plan was not selected for modeling (since they would only choose five), The plan most similar to mine was selected. After much work by the Commission and The Lewin Group, I was able to see the general feasibility of a plan like mine in the state of Colorado.

A plan like mine was the only one of the options that proved it would increase coverage and reduce costs. The bonus was that it was the only plan that showed it could cover everybody and save over $1.4 Billion per year.

The United States has attempted comprehensive national health care reform with a goal of universal coverage six times in the last century. While many people, myself included, think that this problem should be addressed at the federal level, I am not content to wait another six tries and 100 years for them to figure it out. As a state, we are spending over $30 Billion per year on health care and the number is rising by double-digit percentages every year. The sad part is that over $9 Billion of that is wasted on something other than health care. It is used to cover excess and wasteful administrative costs, insurance company profits, and CEO salaries. Much of that money goes out-of-state.

I believe in a system of health care owned by we the people. One where everyone can participate without being denied, and one where the money we spend in premiums is actually used on health care.

With my plan for health care reform, I guarantee the following:

• FREEDOM, SECURITY, and HEALTH
• A family doctor for every family
• No denials due to pre-existing conditions
• Ability for everyone to participate and exercise personal responsibility for their own care
• Return medical decisions to the patient and his/her doctor, not an insurance company bureaucrat
• Ability to see ANY licensed medical provider (no more network limitations)
• Reduction in wait times, with a clear focus on proper triage
• Coverage for all medically necessary services
• No uninsured citizens
• No more “underinsurance”
• Full protection from financial losses as a result of medical costs
• Maintain (and even improve) physician and nurse payments
• Recruit and maintain new doctors and nurses in areas that need them (such as primary care)
• Focus on wellness and prevention
• Better care for chronic conditions
• Ability to find, target, and reduce fraud
• Focus on quality of care, rather than method of payment
• Substantial savings to most families, averaging over $1 Billion per year for the whole state
• Secure, Personal Electronic Medical Record technology to improve care and minimize errors
• Full portability, so not tied to employment (eliminate job lock)
• Fully transparent operation, so the public knows what all procedures, medical equipment, and drugs cost
• Full ability for the state to negotiate lower drug costs
• Wrap-around benefits for seniors on Medicare to eliminate financial hardships due to drug costs
• Improvements to health education for increased personal responsibility
• Full access to wellness and preventive care
• Eliminate the bureaucracy of Medicaid and its impact on the state budget
• Reduction in other fees, taxes, and expenses, including auto insurance and workers' compensation

All of the above is good, but it sounds like “Socialized Medicine.” I can't vote for that.

I wouldn't either and would never expect you to. I am also against socialized medicine. What I have developed is similar to what most industrialized nations already have – one that focuses on care delivered by providers in the private market. My system makes the maximum efficiency out of an insurance system by building one large risk pool that includes everybody. Right now, if you get insurance through your employer and one of your coworkers or their family members has a high-cost illness, you can see your rates rise substantially because your pool is only as large as your participating employee base. By creating a single, not-for-profit risk pool with Colorado's 4.5 million citizens, the risk is spread across the entire population. There is no better way to create efficiency of insurance.

Won't my taxes go up?

Taxes would go up as the primary funding mechanism, but they would be offset by a clear reduction in other health care spending and increased wages, so that the net effect is an average increase in earnings.

I like the insurance I have. What if I want to keep it under your plan?

If you like what you have, chances are you haven't actually figured out how much you are spending or what providers and services are not covered by your existing plan. Current health care costs include premiums you pay, premiums your employer pays, out-of-pocket expenses, taxes for Medicare and Medicaid, other taxes that pay for health care for government employees, part of your auto insurance, workers' compensation insurance, and others. Average costs just for health insurance premiums for a family are over $12,000/year and rising. All private health insurance plans have documented and undocumented limitations in their benefits that would never exist in my plan. All medically necessary services would be covered.

Why can't we just mandate the purchase of insurance?

That solution has failed miserably in Massachusetts and is getting worse. You can't require someone to buy insurance that can't afford it unless you provide a subsidy. Increased subsidies for health insurance means higher taxes, which none of us like. Insurance mandates do not address the real problems of medical inflation, systemic waste, quality, and access. The only way to minimize cost increases in a mandate system is to offer insurance with reduced benefits, only further increasing cost-shifting to people least likely to be able to afford it. Our system of private insurance has had over six decades to 'get it right' and has failed miserably, making our system the most costly and one of the least effective.

Why can't we just wait for the federal government to solve this problem.

This is a very real crisis for all of us right now. While we all hope that the federal government will address this problem in the near future, there is a real possibility that it will fail once again. Many states are making significant efforts in proposing solutions at the state level. Whichever one does it first will win the spoils – attracting employers with better paying jobs, attracting quality doctors and nurses, improving the health of the population, and reducing costs by billions of dollars. Colorado has the potential to be that national leader.