Rocky Mntn News reports: single-payer the one

This is a nice change: The Rocky Mountain News has published an article fairly positive about single-payer. In "Panel: Only 1 health plan would cut costs: Single-payer cited but 5th proposal still being studied," reporter David Montero writes that,

A proposal to put health care in the hands of the government is the only one of five being studied that would save money, a group working on reforming health care in Colorado told lawmakers Wednesday.

That plan, known as the single- payer system, would cut about $1.4 billion of costs from the current $30.1 billion being spent in Colorado on health care.

And of the original four plans - one submitted by insurance underwriters, one by the public employees union, another by health care providers and the single-payer - only the last was shown to cover all of Colorado's legal residents.

Montero doesn't have it quite right — the plan wouldn't put healthcare in the hands of the government, it would put healthcare financing into a non-profit single pool administered by a governing board — but he did get it right that the single-payer plan is the only one that would save money. He also reported that State Sen. Ken Gordon "said single-payer was the best plan that offered the state savings as well as broader coverage for everyone."