Ritter signs health care bills

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 3, 2008 at 4:23 p.m.
Updated June 3, 2008 at 4:23 p.m.

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Photo by Chris Schneider © The Rocky

Caeleb Renner, 3, right, stands next to Gov. Bill Ritter as he signs HB 1372 into law at Children's Hospital in Aurora on Tuesday. The bill allows women to donate umbilical cord blood for stem cell treatments. Caeleb's mother, Jill Renner, is 8 months pregnant and plans to be a donor

Gov. Bill Ritter hammered the first "building blocks" of his health care reform plan into place today by signing 11 bills into law, including a number which expand health care options for thousands more uninsured children.

"We passed 100 percent of what we set out to do," Ritter told an approving crowd of about 100 health professionals and legislators at Children's Hospital.

Applause and whoops erupted over the signing of a new law which makes 50,000 more uninsured children eligible for federal Medicaid benefits and for the state plan, Colorado Child Health Care Plan Plus (known as CHP+). The law expands the eligibility rules to include kids in families with incomes that are 225 percent above the federal poverty level. The old cutoff was incomes at 205 percent above the poverty line. The law also provides for more mental health benefits for children.

A companion piece of legislation simplifies the application process to get on Medicaid and CHP+.

Among the other new laws:

Insurance companies will be required to cover hearing aids for children from birth to age 18.

Colorado becomes the first state to create a gathering system for donation of umbilical cord blood. The University of Colorado Cord Blood Bank program system will allow for adult stem-cell research and genetic matching of tissue for people who have no suitable family donors.

Children with special needs, or birth defects, will have access to expanded services through the State Health Department. The law allows for an increase in health department staff to handle the growing data bases and screening of at-risk children.

People with health insurance will be issued electronic cards containing all their current insurance information. The goal is to streamline the system and cut down on the huge overhead of managing insurance claims.

• June 3, 2008

  4:51 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  SufferingFromFools writes:

  Wow - 11 new bills is only 10% of what Ritter plans on this? Hang on to your wallets, apparently more to come. Once again, those of us ineligible for these benefits will be paying ...

• June 3, 2008

  7:30 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  mytwosense writes:

  RickyLee, since the bill expands to include folks well over the official poverty line, it actually makes it easier for *working* people to get health care access for their children.

  Now, I understand you likely still don't agree with that on principle. But the sad truth in this country is that many hardworking people simply don't make enough money to pay for ever-rising insurance premiums. And even the ones who do often get, at best, only moderate coverage.

• June 3, 2008

  10:20 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  olsonmt writes:

  Many of the people without health insurance are without it by choice. This includes choosing to not buy insurance for their kids. I know dozens and the research shows there account for over 40% of the uninsured. They drive nice new cars. They have nice new clothes. They have flat screen TVs and pay $150 per month for cable. Others smoke how ever many packs a day and never miss a happy hour. It looks like we'll all be paying for the foolish choices of too many people like this. I wish there was an easy way to identify the people that really need our help.

• June 4, 2008

  7:16 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Mike_In_Hartsel writes:

  It is not the function of government to care for the people but to protect the people. Protection means police, fire, courts, disease control, health inspections, public education, bridges, highways, etc. It does not mean food, clothing, housing, and health care.

  Higher taxes, bigger government, less for your money. Government should regulate, not dictate.

• June 4, 2008

  7:49 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  BrianSchwartz writes:

  See the following links for why the health care bills Ritter signed (or is likely to sign) are immoral and impractical:

  http://www.patientpowernow.org/tag/sb...
  http://www.patientpowernow.org/tag/sb...
  http://www.patientpowernow.org/tag/hb...

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