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New hospital fee plan would insure thousands

By Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 7, 2009 at 12:05 a.m.

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Roughly 200,000 Coloradans could be added to public insurance rolls under a new hospital fee proposal that could revive Gov. Bill Ritter's stalled health care reform effort.

Hospitals would pay a per-patient fee to the state, which would be used to win federal matching funds. The new money - up to $600 million a year - would expand eligibility for publicly funded health insurance programs, allow some people to buy into Medicaid and increase reimbursements for doctors and hospitals that treat Medicaid patients.

The governor's office and the Colorado Hospital Association continue to negotiate a fee, but association leaders are on board with the concept, CHA President Steven Summer said.

"This is an initiative of monumental proportions," Summer said.

Ritter has vowed to find a way to cover all of Colorado's 180,000 uninsured children and many more of the state's 790,000 uninsured residents. The recession has derailed plans, although the new proposal could inch the state closer to the governor's goal.

Some steps have already been taken. After a blue-ribbon commission issued myriad recommendations last year, Ritter signed a bill that could add 50,000 more children to public insurance rolls by 2010. Revenue from the proposed new fee could add even more children.

In addition, it could be used to provide benefits to parents of children covered by Medicaid, allow disabled adults to buy Medicaid coverage and extend coverage to low-income adults who make too much to qualify for Medicaid, Summer said.

Reimbursements to doctors who treat low-income patients also would rise under the proposal. Those physicians now receive an average of less than 70 cents on the dollar for the services they provide to Medicaid patients, Summer said.

Half the new revenues would come from hospitals. But health care providers could save significantly by treating fewer uninsured patients who can't pay their bills, Summer said.

"It's a fairly big thing to do in the health care world," Ritter added.

Comments

  • January 7, 2009

    5:59 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    youngman writes:

    So again the socialists make the people who live their lives right...pay for people do do not. For the people that pay their bills..charge them more..so that people that decide not to buy that "stupid" insurance don't have to..we don't want to cut into their crack habit....I am kind of joking..but not really..I bet 80% of these people that do not have insurance could buy it if they wanted to..and the other 20% are here illegally here in the USA....not our proplem..we should be able to charge them or their countries for our services...just like the do to us if we "visit" their countries...but of course no mention of illegals in this article..its a no no

  • January 7, 2009

    6:32 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    SanctuaryCity writes:

    I view this as another tax to support the illegals. You wonder why this country is tanking ? I'm fed up with the fees to support those mexicans who continue breaking the laws. This new bread of generational welfare is bigger than the last

  • January 7, 2009

    8:38 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    JoshuaReports writes:

    This is a new tax that Ritter and his legislature don't have the honesty or integrity to submit to the voters. They are, by calling taxes fees, evading the law and the will of the people.

  • January 7, 2009

    10:53 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    HopiMedicineMan writes:

    $600-million divided by annual hospital admissions is the bottom line of the story. I scanned it twice and found no figure. Insurance companies will not pay it. If forced, they'll leave the state. Ritter is some kind of populist, never thinks consequences of his ideas.