Internationally prominent physician, activist – and clown – Dr. Patch Adams said he wants to see huge corporate health insurance companies go out of business, and believes the ColoradoCare statewide health care program before Colorado voters next month is a step in that direction.

Adams spoke Wednesday, Oct. 12, at a Denver news conference to highlight that some in the medical community’s support Amendment 69 on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.

If approved by state voters, Amendment 69 would establish a statewide health care program, funded by up to $25 billion in employer and employee taxes.

“I’m so happy that a state is making a decision to do this,” Adams said in a news release from ColoradoCareYES, the group supporting Amendment 69. “I feel such a solidarity with my brothers and sisters [providing care in Colorado].”

“I’ll be honest, I’m here to close them down,” Adams said of the corporate insurance industry. “I weep for the suffering that will go on [without ColoradoCare]. All the people who aren’t being seen today in Colorado, because they can’t afford [insurance]. The cancer you miss – everything that you miss.”

Adams has worked for 46 years to change the approach to health care in America and has brought his vision to 40 countries around the world. He gained widespread recognition after actor and comedian Robin Williams portrayed him in the movie, “Patch Adams,” which focused on Adams’ efforts to bring laughter, joy and creativity to the healing process in his role as a physician. His activism focuses on major issues in health care delivery, including the rising cost of care, the dehumanization of medicine and the abuse of the third-party, corporate insurance system.

“I am a doctor, but above all else I consider myself an activist for peace, justice and care for all people,” Adams said in the release, referring to the goals of his Gesundheit! Institute in West Virginia, where he has practiced medicine for 12 years and treated over 15,000 patients in what he called a pilot project for a new health care model.

“We want the world to change,” Adams added. “We have a deep concern for the quality of people’s lives in a world dominated by the values inherent in greed and power. Health care is at a crisis. We don’t want to be a Band-Aid for ailing health care; we want to change the system, to bring about a peaceful revolution.”

Also speaking at the news conference were state senator and doctor Irene Aguilar, state senator and registered nurse Jeanne Nicholson and two dozen representatives from Physicians for ColoradoCare and Nurses for ColoradoCare.