Medicaid is failing Colorado. For those of us who love this strong and beautiful state, the time has come for us to do something about it and align our economic and moral interests.

In 2003 the Government Accountability Office designated Medicaid as a high-risk program; since that year all of the factors indicating risk have worsened.  In this past year alone, Colorado spent over $6 billion of taxpayer money on Medicaid. This is just a small fraction of the half trillion dollars we spent across the US.

Shockingly, 23 percent of the American population is covered by Medicaid. This means that 73 million people are dependent upon this failing program for health care. Under Obamacare and the Democrat championed Medicaid expansion, enrollment in Medicaid has increased 77 percent in the last two years, making us the fastest growing Medicaid state in the nation. Today, almost one in four Coloradans are depending upon this failing program for daily health care.

Perhaps these complaints about the relentless growth of government-run Medicaid would be mitigated if we were gaining healthier lives, but the real tragedy is that for all this money, we are actually harming many of the people who depend on Medicaid. Yes, a growing number of studies show that for certain conditions patients’ health is found to be worse when they are dependent on Medicaid than if they had no insurance at all.

In one University of Virginia study, surgical patients on Medicaid were 13 percent more likely to die on Medicaid than if they were uninsured according to researcher Avik Roy. In some other studies, lung transplant patients were 8 percent less likely to live.  For something as common as heart attacks, Medicaid patients are more than twice as likely to have another heart attack after an angioplasty. Let’s be clear what this means: these studies compare people with similar backgrounds and income levels and the only major difference is whether they are on Medicaid or uninsured.

We should ask ourselves why, for over a half trillion dollars a year, we can’t make people healthier than if they weren’t insured at all. Perhaps it is the false safety that a government program offers when those without insurance know they have to take matters into their own hands. In a recent audit, 51 percent of Medicaid providers could not schedule new patients, and for those that were scheduled, 28 percent had to wait over one month to receive care and 10 percent had to wait over two months. Can you imagine the challenge of having to wait 2 months for a doctor’s appointment?

These numbers are staggering, but while it may seem discouraging, we can change this. This is an area where Republican’s have the high-ground and it is time for Democrats to come to acknowledge that dumping money into a broken system is unhealthy for the Colorado we care about. Slapping bandaids on a gaping wound never works.

While it may be true that Democrats must open their eyes to reality, Republicans too must get smart and stop talking about just cutting programs. When was the last time we just cut government programs? It is imperative that we focus our message on reform that actually works. How will we know if it works? When the people of Colorado can boast healthier lives without incredible costs.

We can’t afford to experiment with this on a large scale, but fortunately the Founders of our Country had the right ideas. Right now, the biggest challenge to reform is Washington DC. President Reagan famously quipped that the scariest words in the English language are, “We’re from the government and we’re here to help.” Washington is helping us so much it hurts, and it hurts those who most need help.

What was our Founders’ idea? The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, the capstone of the Bill of Rights, states that any powers not specifically given to Washington D.C. are reserved for the states. We need to take the lead and tell Washington to give us the money and then stay out of our way. The result will be at least 50 different models for how to do more with less — protecting people’s pocketbooks and enhancing their health.

This can get even more specific because even at the state level, we don’t need just one-size-fits-all. Health care in Denver looks very different from health care in Delta or Durango. The people of our state are as diverse as our landscapes, and if we are going to grow a state of strong and healthy people who thrive in the mountains, on the plains, and throughout our great cities, we have to work to create health care options that work for each and every person.