“If I am still alive in November, you can count on my vote.”

The promise came from a supporter in Loveland. His cancer is terminal, his immune system compromised, his risk extremely high.

But that wasn’t what he wanted to talk about. When I asked what I could do for him, this is what he said:

“Expand health care coverage and lower drug costs. Fighting cancer is expensive—my drug costs are astronomical. I have no kids, so I can afford it. But many of the people I work with have families and struggle to make it. A cancer diagnosis would devastate them. So universal health care is a big priority for me.”

It should be a big priority for Colorado’s next senator too. Each year, an estimated 35,000 Americans die and half a million families go bankrupt because they can’t afford the care they need.

These problems have only gotten worse since the pandemic hit. As many as 43 million people may soon lose not only their jobs but also their coverage.

The kicker: we all pay for it. The U.S. spends twice as much per person as other countries, for a system that leaves too many of us behind.

How do we change that? By freeing insurance from employment, negotiating deeper discounts in the price of pharmaceuticals, improving Medicare benefits, and lowering the age of Medicare eligibility to zero.

These reforms won’t come easily or overnight—and they certainly won’t come without a fight. But this is a cause worth fighting for.

And with the help of a friend in Loveland, it’s a fight we’ll win.

Andrew Romanoff

We’re doing our part to help Coloradans in need.
You can too—go to HelpColoradoNow.org.