Initiative 20, the “State Health Care System,” will be on the November 2016 ballot in Colorado after supporters collected 158,831 voters’ signatures, some 60,000 more than the 98,492 needed. The Secretary of State on Monday projected the valid-signature total would equal 110 percent of the number needed and certified the initiative for the ballot.

Under Initiative 20’s ColoradoCare, state residents could choose their own health insurance plan, but the state would foot the bill, supported by a 10-percent payroll tax included in the measure. Employed workers would pay 3.33 percent of their payroll in taxes, and their employers would kick in the remaining 6.67 percent. The self-employed would pay the whole 10 percent themselves.

ColoradoCare would cover “anybody who earns income and lives in Colorado.”

Supporters predict the tax will raise $25 billion a year, but detractors warn the program will double the state’s budget obligations.

Vermont also considered a single-payer health care system to replace Obamacare, but concluded it would be too costly.


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