May 19, 2014

The Colorado health exchange costs federal taxpayers $1,427 per enrollee

Linda Gorman May 19, 2014

So far, the federal government has spent $7.394 billion building health exchanges to deliver subsidies for the purchase of its poorly designed coverage products.

LATEST VIDEOS

Ep. 164 - Patricia Calhoun - Devil's Advocate

As Colorado turns 150 years old, you gotta wonder if the same value of rugged individualism that defined the state still exists here. No one better to weigh in than Patty Calhoun of Westword.

36:16

Colorado's Second Ambassador?

YouTube Video UEwyN1JnNDNac3N0QXZNazFrZmZpRUJNWFV0cXNHLTJhSC45ODgxOEREMUY2RjgwODM4

30:02

PowerGab Ep94 - Why did Xcel shut off your power?

YouTube Video UEwyN1JnNDNac3N0Q1RlbGdMaEU5Z0gwUjVuV0pMM1l6OC4wN0FBRUVFNEVBMTZBQ0Mx

OR ON PODCAST...

If you’re a fan of limited government, Tuesday’s election results were a downer.

By Jon Caldara

If you’re a fan of limited government, personal liberty, or educational choice, Tuesday night’s election results were a downer, just another one in a long line of depressing elections that has made Colorado more California than California.

However, if you prefer a controlling elite deciding your fate, debt, class envy and teacher unions, it was just another victory in a decade’s long win streak.

I’m curious how multi-billionaire nannyist Michael Bloomberg felt about his out-of-state investment. He put $5 million toward convincing Denver voters adults must stop buying Swisher Sweets cigars (which contains flavored tobacco, the new fentanyl).

As adults drive by marijuana shops selling flavored edibles, liquor stores selling peach-infused vodka, and legal psychedelic mushroom operations, it’s adults buying smoking cessation products like Zyn in Denver that Michael Bloomberg knows is the scourge of our nation.

It didn’t matter it is already illegal for anyone under 21 years old to buy any tobacco or nicotine products, flavored or not. Bloomberg’s millions convinced voters this was a ban on children buying the stuff. He won handedly as he spent nearly $52 per “yes” vote to make it happen.

Fifty-two bucks a person was enough to convince Denverites who scream “my body, my choice!” when it comes to abortion that government needs to stay out of your uterus but shove itself down your adult lungs. He can’t run New York anymore, so he regulates Denver.

His $5 million was the most spent on any ballot issue or candidate in Colorado this year. For perspective, the class-baiting tax increase on rich people to buy free lunches for just slightly less rich people’s kids raised only $800,000. And that was a statewide question not a tiny one like Denver’s cigar ban.

Passing Propositions LL and MM, the double-down on free lunches in Colorado, was certainly no shock. But it gives us some things to speculate.

It did not surprise me MM passed. What did surprise me was it passed by a larger majority than the original tax proposal, Prop FF, just a couple years ago.

By contrast voters seem to have learned their lesson on the wolf reintroduction fiasco. If put on the ballot today, “wolves” would certainly lose. I think witnessing the debacle of flinging apex predators throughout Colorado is what drove Denver voters to recently reject the slaughterhouse ban and a ban on selling furs. They realized that maybe in some areas, government doesn’t know what it’s doing.

In the same way, the farce that is the free lunch program should’ve caused more of us to reconsider the blatant socialism of stealing from those who have more than you.

It took no time for the current free lunch program to run into the red. I mean, go figure, you offer people free stuff, and they line up to take it. The program also failed to source food locally as promised in the original Prop FF. In other words, the state really FFed the whole socialistic experiment.

Yet even after witnessing this failure, a larger percentage of people voted for MM than the original FF. More of us want to penalize successful people to empower government elite to decide what their own kids should eat.

Could this be a leading indicator the socialist value structure of “take from thy neighbor” has taken root here? Props FF and this year’s LL and MM might be the gateway drug for the cocaine of “democratic socialism.” The first one is always free. “Yo, here’s a sandwich for your kid, you know, on the house.” Before you know it, we’re replacing our successful flat income tax rate with a punitive, progressive income tax.

New York’s socialist mayor-elect spelled it out in his victory speech. “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.”

Translation: Here in Colorado we will destroy our economy to save the Earth from climate change (while China builds a dirty coal plant every day), punish the productive, risk-taking class and chase them out of the state (see New York in California) as we micromanage every aspect of your life (like outlawing Swisher Sweet cigars, and feeding your children the meals of our choosing).

Is this the Colorado we’ll buy when some out-of-state billionaire sells it to us?

If you’re a fan of limited government, Tuesday’s election results were a downer.

Search Results placeholder

Xcel recently shut off power for thousands of customers. Why did they do this and how could it have been avoided? PowerGab Hosts Jake Fogleman and Amy Cooke discuss this and more.

Show Notes:

Shutdown

Wildfire matters review committee bill that wasn’t approved.

https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/bill_5_26-0104.02.pdf

It prohibits punitive damages if certain conditions are met.

Wildfire Matters Review Committee letter https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/signed_wildfire_letter_8-26_0.pdf

https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/science-environment/xcel-energy-wind-power-shutoff?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/texas-sues-xcel-panhandle-fires/808421

https://enewspaper.denverpost.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=9a387107-a430-4bf2-8856-d519e4143cad&share=true

Guest editorial

https://enewspaper.denverpost.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=9a387107-a430-4bf2-8856-d519e4143cad&share=true

Gas Appliance warning label

https://coloradosun.com/2025/12/19/colorado-gas-stove-warning-law-halted/

Win a Predator Generator

Because the grid could use a backup plan.

Yes, we’re giving away a Predator Generator.

No, this is not a drill.

Yes, it’s because reliability apparently isn’t fashionable anymore.

How to Enter

Starting with the first show of 2026, drop a funny, clever, or pithy comment in the show’s comment section.

That’s it. No forms. No fine print to initial. No ESG questionnaire.

We’ll be collecting comments throughout the 2026 legislative session, so you’ll have ample time to workshop your sarcasm.
After each show, we’ll pick our favorite comment.
Full transparency: we’re the hosts, we pick the favorites, and it is 100% subjective.
If you’re looking for a neutral referee, this is not that contest.

At the end of the session, we’ll select our top 3–5 favorite comments.

Final Vote

Then you vote on the winner.

Democracy still works here. Mostly.

Winner announced on the last show in May 2026.

The (Very Small) Legal Stuff

No purchase necessary.
Void where prohibited, regulated, or over-engineered.
No cash value and not transferable.
Must pick up at the Independence Institute office, 727 E 16th Ave, Denver, CO 80203
One generator will be awarded. Actual runtime may vary depending on weather, policy decisions, and common sense.
This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, or approved by any utility, regulator, or energy modeler who thinks batteries replace physics.
By entering, you agree we may read, share, or lovingly mock your comment on the show.

One comment.

One generator.

Because when the grid wobbles, satire won’t keep your lights on — but a Predator Generator will.

Search Results placeholder

ORIGINAL REPORTING • COMMENTARY • PODCASTS • VIDEO

May 19, 2014

The Colorado health exchange costs federal taxpayers $1,427 per enrollee

LATEST VIDEOS

OR ON PODCAST...

If you’re a fan of limited government, Tuesday’s election results were a downer.

Win a Predator Generator

How to Enter

Final Vote

The (Very Small) Legal Stuff

SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR

FOLLOW US

SITE MAP

WANT TO STAY IN TOUCH?

Copyright © 2025 Complete Colorado.