Prop*50

Health care initiative qualifies in Colorado

Colorado Secretary of State Bernie Buescher announced today that Amendment 63, opting the state out of the recently passed federal health care reform law, has qualified for the ballot.  The measure is similar to the health care question approved by Missouri voters in their August 3 primary.  It prohibits the state from enforcing a requirement that a person participate in a health care plan, and ensures people's ability to pay directly for health care services. 

Opponents call the measure merely symbolic, pointing out that state law cannot overturn federal law.  Read the "Blue Book" summary and analysis of Amendment 63 here.

Amendment 63 is the fifth initiative to qualify for Colorado's November 2010 ballot.  A sixth, a criminal justice measure dealing with bail, is still in signature verification.  The General Assembly referred three measures to the ballot.

Federal health care reform headed to a vote in Colorado?

Proponents of the "Right to Health Care Choice" plan to drop off petitions at the Colorado secretary of state's office today.  The initiative would attempt to withdraw Colorado from the new federal health care legislation that requires each person to have health insurance.  It will likely take the secretary of state about a month to count and verify signatures.

Should the measure qualify for the ballot, Colorado will become the fifth state to vote on the issue this year.  Missouri voters will consider it in next week's primary election, and voters in Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma will see it on their November ballots.  Colorado's would be the first initiative to make the ballot on this topic though -- all four of the others were referred to the ballot by legislatures.

CORRECTION:  Florida's health care measure, Amendment 9, was blocked from the ballot last week by a Leon Circuit County judge on the grounds that its title and summary were misleading.