Sen. Irene AguilarI was deeply offended by Sen. Kent Lambert’s June 18 opinion article impugning my motives for defeating, by filibuster, Senate Bill 18-252 on the closing day of session.
Measures brought before the Colorado General Assembly in this legislative session have shown that the contentious national debate on immigration has been jolting our state’s politics as well. As the federal government has shifted its policies to penalize so-called sanctuary cities and aggressively deport immigrants, we’ve seen conflicting bills introduced here on whether our state and cities should cooperate with the government to enforce immigration laws.
In response to Sen. Owen Hill’s Feb. 7 opinion column in The Colorado Statesman, I certainly agree with Sen. Hill that we need to protect Colorado Hospitals — particularly those in rural and underserved areas. However, he is mistaken in thinking that repealing Obamacare (“RomenyCare,” Affordable Care Act, ACA) and replacing it with the “Free Market” would provide this protection. In fact, it would have the opposite effect, especially in rural Colorado. The premise that Obamacare destroyed the free market is false. The underpayment of providers by Medicaid and Medicare preceded the ACA and will persist if it is repealed. What has changed is that due to the Obamacare, Colorado has cut the number of uninsured in half.
Earlier this week, ProgressNow, a nonprofit that claims to support progressive issues, came out against ColoradoCare/Amendment 69. With this decision, the organization abandoned the people of Colorado and joined forces with status quo establishment politicians and profit- driven private insurers who make it their business to deny care to those who need it most. ProgressNow abandoned legendary progressive voices like Noam Chomsky, who endorsed ColoradoCare in July, and joined forces with corporate insurance lobbyists and Big Pharma, who are spending millions of dollars to spread fear and lies about universal health care.