Public option fight comes to Colorado as 2020 Democrats pitch idea nationwide

Public option fight comes to Colorado as 2020 Democrats pitch idea nationwide

Colorado Democrats are rallying behind an ambitious plan to create a public health insurance option, setting up a brawl with the health industry over a policy at the center of the 2020 race for the party’s presidential nomination.

The push to approve a government-run insurance option makes Colorado an election year test case for whether a Democratic-controlled state can overcome entrenched industry opposition and resolve thorny policy questions surrounding the untested idea.

Many Democratic presidential candidates have pitched the public option as less disruptive and a more feasible path to expanding coverage than a sweeping “Medicare for All” system, in which the federal government would cover virtually everyone. But well-funded industry groups, including hospitals and insurers, last year helped beat back public option proposals in several blue states that gave the idea a fresh look following Democrats’ big gains in the 2018 midterm elections.

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