Cost of one health plan falls 25%

Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, November 2, 2007

A panel trying to make health care more affordable - while also covering Colorado's uninsured - has managed to shrink the price tag of one approach by about 25 percent.

But the Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform told legislators Thursday that its latest plan would still cost taxpayers nearly $1.1 billion.

"I would encourage you to think about how to roll this program out gradually, in case we're not able to come up with a billion dollars in 2008," Sen. Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, told Dr. Mark Wallace, who appeared before the legislature's Health Care Task Force to update them on the commission's progress.

The commission devised its latest proposal after studying four other plans submitted by interest groups across the state.

The refined proposal would cover all but 116,000 of the state's 785,000 uninsured by expanding Medicaid and children's health insurance programs; offering private insurance subsidies to families of four earning up to $61,950 a year; and allowing disabled people earning up to $45,945 a year to buy into Medicaid.

The proposal also cuts costs by requiring a six-month waiting period before children can receive state-sponsored health insurance and before the state will subsidize qualifying adults.

Shaffer sponsored the bill that created the commission and set a Jan. 31 deadline for the commission's final report to lawmakers.

"In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have done that," Shaffer said. "What are the chances we can get you to report to us by the end of the year?"

Other legislators laughed nervously at the suggestion, realizing the enormity of the task they have given the commission.

"I will bring that back to the commission and see how many people remain at the table, and who falls out of their chair," Wallace said.