DENVER — HB21-1232, a proposed bill looking to change health insurance options in Colorado, has passed the Senate and is headed back to the state House of Representatives to go over amendments.
The bill would create a standardized health insurance plan that insurance companies would have to offer across the state. The bill includes goals of affordability and reaching more minorities, rural communities, lower-income families and small businesses.
Advocates for the bill were clear Thursday morning.
"We need to have access, so we don't die like flies like we are dying right now in the middle of a freaking pandemic," said Karla Gonzales Garcia with Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR).
"The Colorado Option would expand access to people who are undocumented," said Rayna Hetlage, the policy manager for the Center for Health Progress.
Hetlage said the new insurance plan, if the bill passes, would be designed alongside people of color to address health disparities, financial barriers and options to remove those barriers to health care.
This could apply to prenatal care, for example, specially addressing affordability and access, as well as maternal mortality and how it disproportionately impacts more minority women.
One of the bill sponsors, Democratic Rep. Dylan Roberts, also said there are several counties in Colorado with very few options for health insurance and he hopes this would provide an opportunity for people to access health care when they didn't before.
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"For those who have insurance through their employer currently, or through Medicaid or Medicare, this bill doesn't impact them. But there's a certain percentage being squeezed because of high health insurance costs," Roberts said.
This proposed new insurance option would be available to around 15% of the insurance marketplace to buy into. That adds up to around 466,000 Coloradans, according to the latest numbers in a report from the Division of Insurance.
The Colorado Association of Health Plans is worried about realistically meeting goals, the amount of authority granted to division of insurance, cost shifting and having to agree to reducing costs based on a plan that hasn't been written yet.
"The price reductions are modest," responded Roberts. "But significant for people struggling to afford insurance."
Just looking at the underlined and highlighted changes within the bill text shows how much it has morphed. This includes an amendment impacting physicians.
"Physicians are begging to be empowered," said Dr. Sami Diab, the president of the Colorado Medical Society (CMS).
CMS changed its position from against the bill to neutral after an amendment would allow physician groups to opt in out of accepting the proposed insurance plans versus making it mandatory with penalties.
Diab said they are all about quality and affordable health care but wanted more flexibility.
"Physicians take Medicare and Medicaid," said Diab. "This bill pays above Medicare."
He said it would be feasible for many physician groups to accept a potential new insurance plan but that may not be the case for everyone.
As for its effectiveness for expanding health care options, Diab said he is in wait-and-see mode.
"Wait and see how this would affect access to care, especially in rural areas in terms of network adequacy," he said. "We are optimistic it might do that but there are so many different variables, the implementation needs to be monitored very carefully."
When it comes to enforcement and if insurance carriers don't meet the requirements, the state will get involved to work towards a plan that people can benefit from in the way that was promised. The goal is creating the standardized plan by or before January 2022. The rate filings would happen in the middle of 2022 to leave time to sort out any issues before it would become available to people in 2023.
However, first, the house has to decide if they are good with the senate changes. That decision could come in the next week.
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