Last week, the Jewish Community Relations Council voted note to take a position on Amendment 63.\u00a0 While that was the correct decision, as voters, we should strongly support Amendment 63, the Right to Health Care Choice initiative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Amendment 63 does two things: it keeps the state of Colorado from enforcing any state or federal health insurance mandate, and it ensures that Coloradans will always be able to spend their own money on their own health care, unless they voluntarily enter a program that prevents it.\u00a0 These are protections of fundamental rights that we have as human beings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Member organizations indicated that they knew of beneficiaries of their services who might not be able to obtain insurance, or had undergone serious financial hardship from medical expense.\u00a0 Their conclusion is that the best solution to this problem is Obamacare.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In fact, the law\u2019s benefits will prove illusory.\u00a0 Both organizations explicitly said that the benefits depend on the mandate.\u00a0 Implicit is that Obamacare isn\u2019t insurance, it\u2019s a direct transfer of wealth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We can easily point to those who benefit; it\u2019s much harder to point to those individuals who will bear the cost – young workers and families who are just starting out, but who will be forced to pay for benefits that they will not receive.\u00a0 It\u2019s a shame they have no advocate on the Council.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Instead of forcing young workers and families to transfer what should be their house, education, or retirement savings to the government, we should make their insurance more affordable by removing unused, expensive mandates that price them out of the market in the first place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It has been claimed that Obamacare will save $1 trillion.\u00a0 This double-counts $500 billion taken from Medicare, re-spending it, and classifying it as savings.\u00a0 It includes 6 years of benefits for 10 years of revenue, and assumes Congress will cease an annual Medicare adjustment – the “doc fix” – that everyone expects will continue unabated.\u00a0 After 10 years, it will add to our already gargantuan $100 trillion of unfunded liabilities.\u00a0 No one reading (or writing) this piece truly comprehends that number.\u00a0 But we\u2019ll have to pay it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Instead of strengthening our system, the law\u2019s deleterious effects are already being felt.\u00a0 Insurers are raising rates in anticipation of greater obligations.\u00a0 Insurers are dropping child-only coverage.\u00a0 Low-cost insurance policies for college students are endangered.\u00a0 Employers are shifting costs to those who still have jobs, who will pay with after-tax dollars.\u00a0 It will likely cost small insurance companies and brokers their businesses.\u00a0 The IRS has asked to hire 17,000 new employees to enforce the provisions, a deadweight loss of billions to the economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

While the effects of the current system on those organization’s members are real, by focusing on those needs as an excuse to oppose Amendment 63, the member organizations assume that the only, or even the best, way to address those needs is the current legislation.\u00a0 Instead, we should encourage innovation and implement incentives for health care consumers to spend their dollars wisely, lowering costs for all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There is good reason that the JCRC did not take a position.\u00a0 It generally doesn\u2019t take on these sorts of issues, preferring to conserve its voice for issues of distinctive importance to the Jewish community.\u00a0 Supporting Obamacare would have placed the JCRC at odds with the 60% of Americans who want the thing repealed outright.\u00a0 Instead of building bridges, it\u2019s likely to isolate us, dilute our voice, and prevent us from being effective in the future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Earlier this year, voters in Missouri approved a similar measure by a whopping 71% – 29%.\u00a0 Voters in Arizona and Oklahome will likely also approve similar measures in a few weeks.\u00a0 Democrats in 5 other state legislatures have blocked measures from their states’ ballots this fall, but count on them to be re-introduced this coming year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Coloradans should seize the chance to protect\u00a0our own health care choices, and continue the efforts to find sensible fixes to our troubled health care system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n