DENVER – June 8, 2021 – Late yesterday evening the Colorado Legislature passed its newest proposal to increase government interference in the healthcare of its citizens. HB21-1232 will not achieve the goals championed by lawmakers and will result in less choice and competition in the Colorado healthcare market.
In response to the bill’s passage, Executive Director Amanda Massey stated, “We have worked tirelessly with legislators to improve access and affordability of healthcare in Colorado. However, the bill passed yesterday will not advance these goals as promised. The flawed policy may have good intentions, but there is no research or evidence to suggest that the premium reduction targets can be achieved, or that access to affordable care for Coloradans will be improved under this bill. Lawmakers amended this legislation numerous times without proper actuarial analysis, and without answering key questions from fellow lawmakers in order to pass something, anything, that could be called a public option. There is no doubt that we will be having this discussion again when this policy flounders.
The math doesn’t add up – the government cannot add costly benefits to health insurance, increase reimbursement rates to hospitals, eliminate the participation of providers, and simultaneously ask for lower health insurance rates.”
The passage of HB21 – 1232 requires health insurance providers to reduce the cost of a to-be-determined standardized plan 15% over three years. The standardized plan will be designed by the Division of Insurance and will likely have more benefits than current plans in the individual and small group markets. The bill also gives unprecedented authority over the healthcare of Coloradans to an unelected bureaucrat whose regulatory authority will now expand beyond health insurance to oversight of hospitals and doctors.
