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Beyond ‘Obamacare’: State initiatives refocus health debate

FILE - In this July 25, 2016 file photo, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Moving beyond “Obamacare,” political activists are looking to ballot questions in a couple of major states as a new election-year front in the nation’s long-running debate over the role of government in health care. California voters will decide whether to limit what drug companies can charge many state programs, while Coloradans will vote on a state version of a “single-payer” government-run health system, similar to what Sanders proposed in his hard-fought but unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) FILE - In this July 25, 2016 file photo, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Moving beyond “Obamacare,” political activists are looking to ballot questions in a couple of major states as a new election-year front in the nation’s long-running debate over the role of government in health care. California voters will decide whether to limit what drug companies can charge many state programs, while Coloradans will vote on a state version of a “single-payer” government-run health system, similar to what Sanders proposed in his hard-fought but unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

By Associated Press August 9, 2016 4 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Moving beyond “Obamacare,” political activists are looking to state ballot questions to refocus the nation’s long-running debate over government’s role in health care.

This fall, California voters will decide whether to lower some prescription drug prices, while Coloradans will vote on a state version of a “single-payer” government-run health system, similar to what Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders proposed in his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Sanders supports both the California and Colorado initiatives, said spokesman Michael Briggs.

“We are in the process of building a new organization to keep a lot of the energy going,” he said. “Backing those kinds of ballot initiatives is one of the major things that we are focusing on.”

Pharmaceutical companies and insurers are spending millions of dollars to defeat the two ballot questions.