Paid for by Colorado’s Health Care Future, a project of Partnership for America’s Health Care Future Action.
Coloradans React to Lack of Analysis
Chris Brown, Director of Policy and Research, Commonsense Policy Roundtable:
“[The public option proposal] is focusing on the prices rather than what’s driving those costs. You benefit a few at the expense of many, without addressing the full economic impacts that occur in a community.”
Loren Furman, Senior Vice President of State and Federal Relations, Colorado Chamber of Commerce:
“There are too many unknowns in this proposal with the potential of a domino effect of higher prices for patients and employers — which inherently increases the cost of doing business in Colorado.”
Chris Romer, President and CEO, Vail Valley Partnership:
“The risks of a state option are too great to move forward with so many unknowns. The proposal does not provide thorough economic impact analysis, nor does it consider the impacts on access to and quality of care.”
Kristin Strohm, President and CEO, Common Sense Policy Roundtable:
“The public option falls into the category of bad policy. It’s guided by good intentions, but it is not… The public option will wreck the health insurance industry.
Katherine Mulready, Chief Strategy Officer, Colorado Hospital Association:
“The Legislature put the Administration on a shocking unreasonable timeline…I’m disappointed the Administration didn’t say, ‘we need more time.’… [T]here’s not a lot of consensus and there’s not a lot of clarity of why some of the decisions…made it in there.”
Joey Bunch, Colorado Politics:
“Leading voices in the state’s health care industry, some of whom helped work on the report, were reserved but skeptical [about the public option], with some officials characterizing it as a Band-Aid where surgery and stitches are needed.”
Katherine Mulready, Chief Strategy Officer, Colorado Hospital Association:
“Despite receiving hundreds of public comments requesting substantive changes, the Polis administration’s final proposal continues to miss the mark and is unacceptable in its current form…[T]here has been zero collaboration between CHA and HCPF when it comes to crafting the state option proposal.”
“Because the public option proposal has received minimal review and analysis, it is impossible to determine the full impact on access to care, residents who already have insurance and whether it will truly reduce costs. But evidence overwhelmingly suggests the unintended outcomes could be far-reaching and costly.”
Joshua Ewing, Colorado Hospital Association:
“We don’t have a problem with the goal [of cutting costs]; we share it. But how they propose to get there, we think is a bad policy.”
Chris Romer, President and CEO, Vail Valley Partnership:
“We will continue to advocate for the state to not take a heavy-handed approach, which results in leaving too many questions still unanswered, details for implementation of proposals too vague, this resulting in increased burdens on the business community.”