Panel recommends insurance requirement for
residents.
by Cote, Mike
A state commission says improving Colorado's healthcare system
should include a requirement that all legal residents have a minimum
level of insurance.
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Such a mandate, part of the 27-member panel's $1.23 billion
package of recommendations, would be feasible if the state:
* Expanded eligibility for public programs.
* Provided sliding-scale subsidies for low-income workers to buy
private insurance.
* Required health plans to cover everyone regardless of health
status (within certain limits) and
* Enforced the mandate through the income tax system.
Four members of the Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform
outlined highlights of the recommendations at a Denver Metro Chamber of
Commerce meeting on Feb. 1, a day after the bipartisan panel presented
their findings to state lawmakers.
William Lindsey, chairman of the health-care commission and
co-chair of the chamber's health-care committee, said the timing of
the report wasn't good since it arrives during an election year.
But he shrugged off a Denver Post headline that said the
plan's proposals would likely get shelved. Sen. Bob Hagedorn,
D-Aurora, who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee,
told the Post "none of the five proposals would make it into law
anytime soon."
There are already bills in the works that address parts of the
commission's recommendations, said Lindsey, who noted "there
isn't enough money in the system to do everything that is required
of the report."
About 88 percent of the 792,000 Coloradans who do not have health
insurance would be covered by the panel's plan. The report says 75
percent of uninsured residents have family incomes less than $50,000 a
year and that 13 percent have family incomes more than $75,000.
Penfield Tate, co-chairman of the chamber's health-care
committee, said he's confident there are legislators willing to
tackle the problem.
"As a state, we have to begin to make some incremental
movement," he said.
Read the commission's report at
www.colorado.gov/208com-mission
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NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.