Anthem plan would cover more children

Health insurer calls for expansion of state programs

Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 9, 2007 at midnight

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Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, the state's largest health insurer, on Monday outlined a series of initiatives in Colorado and other states encouraging the expansion of government programs to cover children and the working uninsured.

Legislators praised Anthem's ideas but said many require money the state doesn't have. Nearly 700,000 Coloradans, or about 17 percent of the state's population, are uninsured.

Anthem urged the state to expand programs to cover children in families that earn up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level - or $60,000 a year for a family of four - and improve efforts to reach children who are eligible for government programs but haven't enrolled.

The plan also would expand state health care programs to include parents in families that earn up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($40,000 for a family of four) and childless adults earning $9,800.

Rep. Anne McGihon, D-Denver, chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, called Anthem's proposals "an admirable plan" but said the state doesn't have the money to expand the plans to the levels Anthem is calling for. The state is collecting more money since Referendum C passed in 2005, but K-12 education and spiraling Medicaid and prison costs eat up nearly all of it.

"It's really asking the impossible for us," she said.

Of all the proposals, McGihon said helping uninsured children is probably most feasible. Nearly two-thirds of the state's 175,000 uninsured children qualify for government programs, and it's "a matter of reaching out" to get them signed up, she said.

"Children are the low-hanging fruit. They're cheap to ensure," she said.

Anthem's proposal comes as Colorado Democrats this week will start their first legislative sessions since 1962 when the party controls the Senate, the House and the governor's office. The legislature's Democratic leaders have said that health care is one of their top priorities.

Anthem parent WellPoint unrolled similar initiatives in other states where it operates. The announcement came the same day that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a radical overhaul of the health care industry to hold down medical costs and expand insurance to every resident.

In Colorado, a task force of business leaders, experts and health insurance purchasers is meeting to develop a comprehensive reform proposal for health care in the state.

This is the first time that WellPoint, which merged with Anthem in late 2004, has proposed policy changes for the public sector, said Carl Miller, regional director of government relations.

"So often, when companies are involved with legislative activities, it's because they're saying no - this idea isn't a good thing, or it has unintended consequences," Miller said. "This is something that we can be for."

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