Statement from Michele Lueck, President and CEO of the Colorado Health Institute

It has come to our attention that a group calling itself the Colorado Health Care Research Institute is financing ads against Amendment 69. Because this name is so similar to our name — the Colorado Health Institute — we feel it is important to let the community know that our organizations are not related or connected in any way.

The Colorado Health Institute — that’s us — is a nonprofit and nonpartisan health policy research organization based in Denver. Our research informs health policy discussions with evidence and unbiased analysis. We take our mission and our nonpartisan status very seriously.

We have written briefs analyzing various aspects of Amendment 69, but we have not and will not take a position on Amendment 69, or any other ballot issue or bill.

The group paying for the anti-Amendment 69 ads appears on state documents as both the Colorado Health Care Institute and the Colorado Health Care Research Institute. Paperwork at the Secretary of State’s office shows the Colorado Health Care Research Institute — that’s not us — was established in July as a 501(c)4. This is a type of tax-exempt group that can make political donations without revealing its donors.

Again, we don’t know this group, and it is not affiliated in any way with the Colorado Health Institute.

We at the Colorado Health Institute look forward to continuing to inform health policy discussions with the unbiased analysis for which we are known.