Single-Payer Health Care System Rejected, Colorado Votes Down Amendment 69

DENVER (CBS4) – A large majority of Coloradans aren't ready for a single-payer health care system.

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.

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.

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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.