In theory, a public health emergency like coronavirus should prompt lawmakers to do whatever they can to lower the cost of medical care for millions of people who lose their job-based health insurance. In theory, something like a public insurance option should be eminently achievable particularly in states that are completely controlled by Democrats.

But then there is the real world of a democracy that is dominated by corporate interests. In an emblematic turn of events in one blue state, the pandemic is now being cited as the rationale to kill rather than pass a state public health insurance option, after the health care industry spent millions of dollars successfully intimidating the Democratic Party into retreating.

The story of Colorado is not just an isolated incident — it is an emblematic tale reminding us that even in the most deadly health care crisis, modest reforms to the corporate-run health care system will face stiff opposition from those with a vested financial interest in preserving a deadly status quo.