Colorado Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne has a story she likes to tell when she talks about health care. She was traveling around Europe, got in a car crash and had to go to the emergency room. Months later, after she came home, she got her bill. It was $44.
Then she asked a question to the half-dozen people who came to a health care forum in the University of Northern Colorado’s University Center on Sunday afternoon before a handful of constituents: What if a tourist from Europe had to go to the emergency room in the United Sates? The bill would be extraordinarily expensive.
“They might even be denied coverage,” said Lynne, who until she was named lieutenant governor in 2016.
That was the crux of Lynne’s message as she sought support for her bid to replace the term-limited Gov. John Hickenlooper as governor in next year’s election.
“I support universal (health care) coverage,” she said. “It’s like public education.”
Lynne also touched on several other issues that are sure to be important in her gubernatorial campaign — affordable housing, infrastructure, the environment and education.
No matter what issue was raised, Lynne tied it back to health care. When the subject of hydraulic fracturing came up, she said Colorado can’t afford to lose the jobs the oil and gas industry provides, but she said the “No. 1 issue when it comes to oil and gas is public health and safety.”
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