Single-Payer Health Care Supporters Plan To Try Again

DENVER (CBS4)- Supporter of Amendment 69, the single-payer health care system that was rejected by voters, say they plan to try again.

Proponents say they plan to try to figure out what happened that kept voters from getting on board.

"I think because I'm a doctor I'll sit down and do a post mortem, 'What did we do wrong? What could we have done differently? What do we need to do to be successful and try this again?'" said State Sen. Irene Aguilar, MD.

Amendment 69, or ColoradoCare, was rejected by voters by a margin of 80 percent to 20 percent. It would have created the first such system in the country.

Aguilar, a Democrat representing District 32, said even though the measure failed, she hopes it brought attention to a matter she believes in.

"My hopes are that we have raised awareness among the people in our state and really in our country about the fact that we have enough money to provide health care for everybody," said Aguilar.

If it had passed, Colorado would have opted out of the Affordable Care Act and replaced it with a health care plan paid for by a payroll tax.

PHOTO GALLERIES: Election Day In Colorado | CBS4 Behind The Scenes

Employers would have had to pay a new tax of about 7 percent of workers' wages. Employees would have had a payroll tax of about 3 percent. There would have been no deductibles or co-pays. The funds would have be transferred into a separate authority run by an elected board of directors.

Proponents say they learned a lot and say they plan to make changes to make the measure more appealing next time.