Colorado moves forward on health care: Our governor Owens (very conservate Republican) had established a blue ribbon pannel to study Colorado's health care issues. He was far right and from Colorado Springs (and believe me very right of center) The pannels findings support much of the federal plan as need in Colorado. Below is a recent articel in the Springs paper .
BARA COTTER
The Gazette
A federal judge’s ruling in January that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional was enough to convince the governor of Alaska that he would have no part of the controversial health care reform law.
“The state of Alaska will not pursue unlawful activity to implement a federal health care regime that has been declared unconstitutional by a federal court,” Gov. Sean Parnell announced last week.
Don’t expect the same response in Colorado. With a boost from federal grants, the state has been steadily moving ahead on health care reform, and there are no plans to stop, even though Colorado and Alaska were party to the legal challenge in Florida.
“It’s the federal law, and until it’s changed, it’s our duty to implement it,” says Lorez Meinhold, director of health reform implementation for the governor’s office. “It’s not like the court decision in Florida is the final word. It’s destined to be appealed to the higher court.”
Already, Meinhold says, the law has had what she called “real benefits” in Colorado. Since July, more than 600 long-term uninsured Coloradans with pre-existing conditions have gotten coverage through a federal high-risk pool, and there are projections that up to 4,000 people in the state will eventually be part of the GettingUSCovered program.
Colorado received a $90 million grant to fund GettingUSCovered, which also receives money through member premiums that, in El Paso County, can range from $116 a month for a young nonsmoker to $642 a month for a smoker age 65 or older.
“It’s not cheap, but for folks who need insurance, they can now obtain it,” Meinhold says.
GettingUSCovered is considered a “bridge” program that will run through Dec. 31, 2013. After that, assuming the law is upheld after its inevitable trip to the U.S. Supreme Court, the health care reform law will allow people with pre-existing conditions to purchase coverage through health insurance exchanges, described as a virtual marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to easily compare plans offered by participating insurers and pick one that’s best for them. The exchanges also will be an avenue for people to get subsidies for premiums, if they qualify based on their income.
Other work that’s underway in Colorado includes:
• Planning for the state’s health insurance exchange. A federal grant of about $1 million is being used to pay for consultants, statewide community outreach meetings and data analysis to determine who might use the exchange and how it should work, says Joan Henneberry, director of health insurance exchange for the state. A data advisory work group is already meeting, and another that will enlist small employers to address their needs is being formed.
Officials also are working with lawmakers on enabling legislation to create an organization to run the exchange.
“We have two years to build what is essentially a start-up company that creates this marketplace for consumers to come,” Henneberry says. “In the next two years, we have to do everything that any other small business would do: develop operations plans, work out functions, IT and infrastructure, build a budget.”
• Enhancement of insurance rate oversight. The state Division of Insurance received a $1 million federal grant to review insurance rates, oversee premium increases and take action against insurers who are going after “unreasonable” rate hikes. “It ensures that increases are justified,” Meinhold says.
• Participation in the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program. The Affordable Care Act created the program to help employers and unions maintain coverage for retirees who are at least 55 years old but not yet eligible for Medicare. The program has about $5 billion available to reimburse participating employers and unions for medical claims for early retirees, their spouses and their dependents. The reimbursements can be used to reduce employer health care costs, lower premiums for the retirees, or both. Meinhold says about 40 employers and unions in Colorado have been accepted into the program, including El Paso County, with about 5,000 participants nationwide.
Meinhold says the state also has received a grant to figure out how to add more primary care doctors, physicians’ assistants and other front-line providers to the workforce.
“I think we have seen positive impacts in the state,” Meinhold says.
County officials also are being brought into discussions on implementation of the new law to ensure that “what we do moves Colorado forward,” Meinhold says. “We see counties as our partners.”
Even as Meinhold and Henneberry plow ahead with health care reform, the Colorado Attorney General’s office is continuing to fight it, but isn’t ready to go to the mat over the Florida judge’s ruling.
“Basically, the federal government still has time to appeal the ruling and get a stay, so we’re still in that period of time right now, so there’s no contradiction in what Colorado is doing and the judge’s order,” says Mike Saccone, spokesman for the attorney general’s office. “If the federal government declines to appeal, the there could be an issue with Colorado implementing the health care reform law.”
But with three federal judges ruling in favor of the law and two against so far, almost everyone expects the law to eventually wend its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the meantime, Meinhold and Henneberry say, Colorado needs to press on with health care reform.
“I’d say most states feel we should proceed with our planning until we’re told otherwise,” Henneberry says. “We don’t think it’s wise to just bring everything to a screeching halt and then get a year behind.”
Henneberry also says the people who attended the 10 community meetings held across the state last year were in favor of having the state in charge of its exchange. States that don’t create their own face the prospect of the federal government stepping in and doing it for them.
“We do not want to default to the federal government and have them do this for us,” Henneberry says.
And should the U.S. Supreme Court strike down all or parts of the law?
“There’s a lot we can continue to do, even without the federal law,” Henneberry says, “but without the federal financing, it will be hard to cover all our uninsured, and we’ve heard loud and clear in Colorado that people expect us to do something about the uninsured.”
State officials working to implement the new law say that more than 500,000 uninsured Coloradans will get coverage when it’s in full effect in 2014.
Read more:
http://www.gazette.com/articles/heal...#ixzz1F1a82uTX
New health care is good economics
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Originally Posted by sinner
I simply pointed out that just because someone puts in writing a bunch of rosy projections and hypothetical numbers for what things might be like 8 years down the road doesn't exactly meet my idea of factual. I'd probably feel the same way if DU published a study of projected habitat gain 8 years in the future. However, if said study was commissioned in order to solicit donations for purchasing said habitat, I'd understand why it was done. Gnome sane? 
