Paid for by Colorado’s Health Care Future, a project of Partnership for America’s Health Care Future Action.
Colorado Elected Officials Voice Hesitation
“Because the public option proposal has received minimal review or analysis, it is impossible to determine the full impact on access to care, employer-sponsored coverage and whether it will truly reduce costs. However, evidence suggests the unintended outcomes could be far-reaching and costly.”
Bob Rankin, State Senator, Colorado:
“The public option has two things that I’ll vehemently oppose — one of them is mandatory participation by providers and the other is price controls.”
Patrick Neville, House of Representatives Minority Leader, Colorado:
“[The public option] scares the heck out of me. It’s not just a small step toward single-payer [health care], it’s a giant leap.”
Kim Ransom, State Representative, Colorado:
“We had at one point, a health co-op, back in, I believe it was in 2014, that it basically was not able to function because there were a lot of reasons of why it ceased to exist, but I guess I’m trying to figure out why this would work when the health co-op didn’t.”
Ray Scott, State Senator, Colorado:
“Unfortunately, the state’s proposal offers no economic impact analysis. Instead, it hopes health care providers and insurers will volunteer solutions to absorb [$1.5] billion in reimbursement cuts. That offers little reassurance to employers and employees across Colorado who will be forced to accept government-run plans.”
Kevin Ross, Mayor of Eaton, Colorado:
“Multiple studies have shown the public option would be a disaster, costing thousands of health care jobs here in Colorado and pushing some hospitals — especially those in rural areas — to shutter.”
Colin Larson, State Representative, Colorado:
“When we’re coming here talking about the figures for the public option, how can we have any faith that we won’t be hearing in 2021 that in fact, they were wildly off mark that we did not have a real grasp on what these costs would be? Frankly, with no hyperbole intended, this could have a very real chance on the scale of what we’re talking about be bankrupting Colorado.”
Rhonda Fields, State Senator, Colorado:
“I just don’t know how you tell a hospital what their rate should be, that’s just the statement. How are we going to ensure that we get the kind of participation that we need? From insurers? Do we know if some folks don’t want to participate? I know we’ve been talking about competition, but how do we make sure that people will participate in this?”
Richard Holtorf, State Representative, Colorado:
“I have a hard time understanding how government insertion increases competition. Historically, when government gets directly involved, competition gets diminished or controlled or regulated to such a degree that there’s less competition, not more. “I’m really concerned about how many companies are going to leave the market when you mandate benefit plans.”
Richard Holtorf, State Representative, Colorado:
“If insurance companies decide to migrate away from this state and the conditions that this legislation would set, then it could very well become the program that you said you didn’t choose, and that would be a concerning cost and an incredible burden to the state of Colorado.”