With World War II approaching, Winston Churchill described the Soviet Union as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Much the same can be said today regarding the cost structure of American health care. Everyone acknowledges its price is far too high and reaches too few. Over the past half century this economic colossus has metastasized from 6% to 20% of national GDP. With those kinds of dollars sloshing around, we should not be surprised when its beneficiaries scurry to protect the revenues spilling into their buckets. Colorado’s public option hearing put all this on display last Friday.

Last year, prior to the arrival of COVID-19, a public option proposal was on a fast track to approval. The legislation supported the governor’s expressed desire to save Coloradans money on health care. Our hospitals were reporting record profits, while scooping up private practices and rural clinics. COVID forced providers to abandon large portions of their revenues as discretionary surgeries such as joint replacements were cancelled in order to focus available resources on treating virus victims. Although overpriced from top to bottom, hospitals were converted for many months into wall-to-wall emergency rooms. Thankfully, they met the challenge and Colorado was never forced to store cadavers in refrigerated trucks.

Pete Seeger’s lyrics, which were recycled as a huge hit by The Byrds, point out that, “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.” 2021 may not be the right season for a public option. Although Democrats prefer to ignore the fact that medical premiums can’t be arbitrarily reduced by 20% simply because the industry has been making too damned much money, how does this claim differ from the Republican argument that there is sufficient money for every conceivable government program if we simply root out all the bureaucratic waste, fraud and abuse?

Medical insurance premiums have been inexorably rising for decades despite repeated attempts to restrain them. As much as I admire both state Rep. Dylan Roberts and state Sen. Kerry Donovan, their attempt to demand a 20% reduction in premiums over the next two years reminds me of the tale of King Canute. The ocean’s tide rose despite his commands as has the fiscal tide of burgeoning health care costs. A surprising move by House Democratic leadership to remove/replace/substitute two members on the Health Committee before scheduling the public option debate raises suspicion all is not well with the legislation. Rumors speculate Democrats are protecting the pair from a difficult vote or, more likely, choosing to stack the vote.

During testimony there was nearly unanimous acknowledgment Colorado health costs are too high — that remedies must be pursued. But physicians, who opted to wear their white lab coats, as well as hospital administrators and insurers appealed for time to regain their fiscal balance. Even several labor unions testified that the medical plans they have negotiated for their members could be at risk.

Apparently, labor opinions weren’t adequately considered/included before drafting the proposed legislation — a glaring instance of political negligence. Although I’m not usually an advocate for kicking the can down the road, after 50 years of failure, perhaps we should all try to catch our breath and determine whether there may be a compromise lurking in the shadows of the plague we are still fighting.

Republican state Rep. Mark Baisley appeared to have been anointed as the designated interrogator for his caucus during witness testimony, with ample coaching and support from House Minority Leader Hugh McKean. Providing proof for the advice given attorneys never to offer a question unless you are sure what the answer will be, Baisley asked Karla Garcia of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights how she would compare the American system with health care in her native Peru. She replied that she unreservedly preferred the Peruvian system, where “…health care is viewed as a human right rather than a privilege,” that is offered to everyone. Karla, by way of example, explained she was an athlete during high school and college suffering the frequent bumps and bruises of her sport, which were treated for $20 a month. There was no request for further clarification.

Every advanced economy on our planet, with the sole exception of the United States, has concluded universal health coverage provides the best protection, at the cheapest price, for their citizens. COVID has taught us none are truly safe unless and until each of us is safe. Democrats and Republicans can see this is the direction the American health care debate is taking. The only question remaining is how to get there without toppling current arrangements. Perhaps this challenge is what we should be discussing. Health care is under severe duress for obvious reasons. It seems prudent to unwrap the medical cost enigma together.