First, that Dick Lamm’s refrain regarding the “hard choices” that must be made in public policy is coming home to roost; and second, that this situation, as well as any in the country, points to the folly of our continuing failure to adopt a single-payer health care model.

Costs, and prying that door open for indigent patients, could both be better managed if hospitals, and medical care in general, were all part of an expanded and enhanced Medicare program that served everyone well, up to a point. The U.S. as a society, and Colorado as a state, cannot afford to provide every bit of medical care that *might* be helpful to every patient. There has to be more to the economy than health care, and providing quality health care to some while simultaneously providing no health care to others, is immoral and unethical. It may be practical, but that doesn’t make it the right thing to do.