Colorado Affordable Health Care Option (CAHCO)

[task0778]

Anybody from Colorado in here? My understanding is that last year Colorado passed a number of bills through their state legislature to create what is essentially a single payer health care option.

"Colorado’s HB 1004 creates a public insurance option and claims it will “compete in the market against private plans.” This public option produces an uneven playing field, pitting an insurance company backed by taxpayer dollars with commercial enterprises that must balance their budgets from premiums paid by ratepayers."

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/03/colorado_goes_over_the_health_care_cliff.html

They have also passed a number of other measures:

" HB 1174 puts caps on Emergency Room charges. HB 1216 places price controls on insulin and potentially other medications. SB 5 allows government to undercut American drug manufacturers by purchasing pharmaceuticals from Canada. HB 1168 creates a re-insurance fund to pay insurance companies when patients have very expensive claims. SB 238 increases payments to home health workers, assuming the state can squeeze money from Washington. "


A couple of issues (IMHO):

1. Will it really work? It didn't in Vermont, why will it be successful in Colorado?

2. State taxes are going to go up to pay for this, did they tell you how much?

3. What about illegal immigrants? Do they get free health care too? Do you have to be a resident? What if you live in another state? Do you get free care then?

4. Paying insurance companies, always a good idea. Gonna have to be a lot of money or they'll leave. Can an insuance company deny coverage? Sounds to me like anyone with existing HC insurance policies will be SOL. Some HC providers and companies will leave for other states IMHO.

5. I'm always ready to admit when I'm wrong, it happens often enough. But whenever a SP system is implemented, the access and quality goes down. Every time. and it's expensive, VERY expensive. Which means some non-HC citizens and businesses will leave too as soon as practical. Unless this dies a quick death. which leads me to my final question:

6. Is there anything on the November ballot in Colorado about this? Like an effort to shut it down? Be interesting to see how the Dems that pushed this through fare in November. Hey, maybe it'll work, I'm a big fan of pushing a lot of policies and programs out of the federal gov't and down to the states, counties, and cities. Never did like the one-size-fits-all ideas that politicians dream up. Got my doubts about this one though.

 

[Oddball]

I left about seven years ago....Could see the writing on the wall that it was being turned into east Fornicalia.

 

[The Irish Ram]

Most screwed up state in the union...

 

[task0778]

Most screwed up state in the union...

Oh, I dunno about that. There's plenty of competition, like CA, IL, and NY. But let's not get away from the OP, please. Does anyone know the details of what they're going to do in Colorado and what they told the voters?

 

[task0778]

Couple of notes, after further research:

Most of these bills require approval from the HHS Secretary, mostly to redirect federal funds to enact their proposals or to exempt Colorado from some federal laws. If approved they wouldn't take effect for awhile, HB 1004 that creates a public insurance option wouldn't kick in until Jan 1, 2022.

Initially, the plan would be open to about 8% of Coloradans who buy their own insurance. Eventually, it would be expanded to the small group market. No one has to switch to the state plan but if they don’t, they could end up paying even more than they do now. That's because many of those who buy their own insurance get federal tax subsidies and those would drop. The bill sponsors are seeking a federal waiver to address that, as well as working on Republican support for the bill. The problem is, the bill would create a public-private partnership in which existing insurers issue the policy, while government would regulate the prices and require hospitals to accept the coverage. A hospital could be fined up to $50,000 a day and have conditions placed on its license to operate for failing to participate in the plan, a power vested in the state health department.

Under this plan,the state would force insurance companies to sell the plan in every county and every hospital would accept it or risk losing their license. The state would also set reimbursement rates based largely on a percentage of what Medicare pays. It's hard to support any gov't program at any level that forces cooperation.