Face the State

Face The State Staff Report

Hundreds rallied on the state Capitol steps Tuesday to protest a massive overhaul of the nation’s health care system they say will only make it worse.

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Americans For Prosperity, a center-right grassroots organization, arranged the event which drew about 700 people. At issue is the 1,200-page health care reform bill President Barack Obama is working to rush through Congress, though a vote has been delayed until at least September.

Jeff Crank, a former congressional candidate in Colorado Springs and now Colorado state director for AFP, called on Colorado's federal delegation to “read the bill” before voting. He warned of health care rationing under what detractors are calling "Obamacare" and touted the need for portable health insurance, instead of coverage that is tied to employers. Crank added that “[politicians] should amend the bill to put them under this public health care option.”

Jon Caldara, president of the libertarian Independence Institute, said there is no need to rush the bill through Congress. Caldara choked up when he spoke of his daughter Parker, who passed away seven years ago at a very young age. He recalled how she was able to receive an MRI and surgery almost immediately after being diagnosed with cancer and said that without such immediate care, he would not know what killed her - a delay in care or the cancer. His son Chance, who suffers from Downs Syndrome, had emergency open heart surgery when he was one month old and has had eight life saving surgeries since. "I don't know if [Chance] would be alive if we had what Obama is pushing for," Caldara said.

Dale Auer, a retired Air Force Colonel, recounted how he was diagnosed with colo-rectal cancer and was saved by a cutting edge operation that removed part of his liver, and said such treatment would not be available under the proposed government-sponsored health plan. “If I had been on a [government health plan] I would not have been allowed to have the operation,” he said. “If I had not had the surgery last May, I would not be alive today.”

Speakers acknowledged the need for health care reform, but remained adamantly opposed to the plan currently under consideration in Washington. Instead, they advocated cutting down on malpractice costs and freeing health care from political interference.

Blogger Ari Armstrong criticized Medicare, the biggest government run health care system, for disconnecting patients from the true cost of their health care, erasing any customer incentive for controlling costs.

"Patients on Medicare don't care about cost and doctors answer to bureaucrats not patients," Armstrong said.