A proposal for the biggest donors to the two sides in the campaign for and against Amendment 69 to face each other in a debate may have been turned down by officials with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield.

If approved by Colorado voters in the Nov. 8 general election, the amendment would create a $25 billion statewide health care program as an alternative to current health care insurance. It would be funded by employer and employee taxes.

A news release from the group backing the amendment, ColoradoCareYES, listed a tentative date and time of Monday, Oct. 17, at 6:30 p.m., at a site to be determined.

“We’ve talked about doing this for some time,” said ColoradoCare spokesman Owen Perkins on Monday. “We want to have a good discussion of the issues, and the more we looked at the campaign finance reports, the most this seemed like something we wanted to do.”

The biggest contributor from among the 3,620 contributions to the ColoradoCareYES campaign through Sept. 19 is Lyn Gullette, a self-employed health care provider, former teacher and mother from Louisville. Her contributions over the past two years total $168,034.

Gullette accepted the invitation, and while Perkins said initial responses from Anthem were encouraging, Anthem spokesman Tony Felts told The Colorado Statesman late Monday afternoon the proposed debate idea had been turned over to an opposing group, Coloradans for Coloradans. Campaign manager Michael Cook said she had not heard about the proposed debate.

“As of now, I haven’t been contacted by anyone with ColoradoCare,” Cook said. “I think the proper protocol would be to go through the local campaign” instead of approaching companies like Anthem.

The largest of the 365 contributions to the opposition campaign is Anthem, Inc., which operates Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield as the trade name of Rocky Mountain Hospital and Medical Service, Inc., HMO products underwritten by HMO Colorado, Inc.

With 99 percent of all opposition funds coming from corporations, it is a challenge to reach an actual individual on the list of top donors, said Perkins. So ColoradoCareYES invited Anthem President and CEO Joseph Swedish to debate Gullette.

“We’re talking about a lot of money to oppose the amendment, and a significant amount in support, too,” Perkins said. “But the total amounts are not really the same.”

According to the latest campaign finance reports filed with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, ColoradoCareYes received $343,412.76 through the end of September. Three opposing issues committees – Coloradans for Coloradans, Colorado Health Care Choices and Committee to Stop ColoradoCare – reported $3,973,637 in monetary contributions and $475,519.31 in non-monetary contributions.

“As a real person and a major donor to ColoradoCareYES, I’d enjoy a debate with a corporation that’s a million-dollar donor to the ‘NO’ campaign,” Gullette said in the ColoradoCare news release. “I’ve donated thousands of hours of work in addition to money to the cause of obtaining health care for every Coloradan.”

The news release said Anthem had yet to offer a public statement about their opposition to the amendment. Perkins said at least 126 of about 485 past and future campaign engagements ColoradoCare representatives have or will take part in until Election Day are either debates or joint presentations with opponents.