HEALTH CARE

Position:

I support creating a portable framework for health insurance where the employer can make a financial contribution to health care but the choice of care remains with the individual. I believe that the children of Colorado must have access to quality healthcare. The recently introduced SB 217 appears to address primarily the access issues and less so the cost and quality issues. Although I agree that the process of soliciting involvement from private insurance needs to begin, the bill does little to define the framework for addressing other identified concerns. For a more comprehensive plan, legislators need to take into account the recomndations of doctors, nurses and the consumer. Healthcare cost containment should be addressed with the understanding that major factors to rising healthcare cost include pharmaceuticals, liability insurance, medical education and admnistrative services.

Issues:

In Colorado and throughout the U.S., the numbers of uninsured and underinsured are growing. The cost of health insurance premiums has increased five times as fast as wages. The average employee contribution to health insurance premiums has more than doubled. It is estimated that 17 percent of the Colorado population is uninsured and 20% of the uninsured are children. Part of the current problem is our reliance on employee sponsored coverage. What began as a way for business to attract better workers evolved into the primary source of health insurance for most Americans. Furthermore, it is reinforced by the tax code. Today this model works for fewer and fewer people. Changing jobs or transitioning from the workforce into retirement can result in interrupted coverage. Additionally employers are yearly shopping for the best deal and that can result in people being forced to change medical providers. This runs contrary to the idea of a “medical home”– a source of continued and coordinated care. In 2006 the Colorado General Assembly created the Blue Ribbon Commission to study and establish reform models to expand coverage, specifically to ensure access to affordable health care coverage for all Colorado residents, and to decrease health care costs. Any type of mandated coverage must be accompanied by cost control both in administration and processes and in the oversight of quality of coverage and premium rate hikes. Additionally, minimum coverage models must be just that – minimum. They must adequately address access to preventative and wellness care for those who cannot otherwise afford it, and they must embody sufficient caps for catastrophic care such that the traditional safety net providers are in fact insulated from large amounts of uncompensated care.

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