DENVER — In case you missed it, in a recent op-ed published by the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, State Senator Janice Rich (SD-7) explains that the Colorado Option is not lowering health care costs and is harming health care competition in Colorado, despite what some politicians and activists claim.

“Some Colorado politicians and activists have been trying to paint a rosy picture of how the ‘Colorado Option’ — the state government-backed health insurance plan — is working so far, but the facts are telling a different story,” Senator Rich writes.

“An actuarial study released earlier this year found that the Colorado Option is failing on both promises of affordability and competitiveness,” Sen. Rich continued. “First, it found that the Colorado Option not only failed to lower insurance premiums overall, but that in many cases the Colorado Option plans were not even the least expensive ones in their given market tiers … Second, and perhaps even more concerningly, the report also found that the law is likely a contributing factor in several insurance companies being forced out of our state.” 

Sen. Rich concluded: “It turns out that creating an affordable and competitive marketplace is a little more complicated than politicians simply trying to set rates and expecting economic forces to bend to their will … We’ve already seen firsthand in Grand Junction what a healthy, competitive health care marketplace looks like. That is the model we should be building on, to truly lower costs and improve outcomes … It is now clear that the Colorado Option was the wrong way to go, but it’s not too late to turn back.” 

Read the op-ed in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel or below:

If You Want Lower Health Care Costs, Colorado Option is Not the Answer

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

By Sen. Janice Rich (Opinion)

September 28, 2023

Some Colorado politicians and activists have been trying to paint a rosy picture of how the “Colorado Option” — the state government-backed health insurance plan — is working so far, but the facts are telling a different story.

The law, which took effect this year after passing in 2021, requires insurance companies operating in the Connect For Health marketplace — Colorado’s Affordable Care Act health plan exchange — to offer insurance plans with offerings and prices controlled by the Colorado state government.

When the law passed, Coloradans were told by the bill’s proponents that the Colorado Option would make health insurance in Colorado more affordable and more competitive. The reality, however, is playing out much differently.

An actuarial study released earlier this year found that the Colorado Option is failing on both promises of affordability and competitiveness. First, it found that the Colorado Option not only failed to lower insurance premiums overall, but that in many cases the Colorado Option plans were not even the least expensive ones in their given market tiers.

Second, and perhaps even more concerningly, the report also found that the law is likely a contributing factor in several insurance companies being forced out of our state. Bright Health, Humana, Oscar Health and Friday Health Plans all left Colorado in the first half of 2023. Those four companies made up over 40% of the health insurance carriers in the state, resulting in an unhealthy consolidation in Colorado’s health insurance market, reducing competitive price pressure and leaving many Coloradans scrambling to find new health insurance in the middle of the plan year. 

It’s true that each of those situations were unique, and other factors were surely involved as well; but 40% of the insurance carrier market leaving the state at the same time as the Colorado Option was rolled into the marketplace is not simply a remarkable coincidence.

It turns out that creating an affordable and competitive marketplace is a little more complicated than politicians simply trying to set rates and expecting economic forces to bend to their will.

In Colorado, we had the fourth lowest average health insurance premiums of any state in the country before the Colorado Option law passed. The Urban Institute recently looked at health insurance across the country and concluded that state government public option plans are less likely to have any downward effect on average premiums in states where premiums were already relatively low.

The greater issue affecting high premiums is the flood of mandates that government places on insurance. Every new mandated coverage adds more costs, and those costs are ultimately borne by the consumer through higher premiums. With each passing day it’s becoming more and more clear that the Colorado Option is the wrong solution to the wrong problem.

In Grand Junction, we have a nationally recognized health care delivery system. Our community was recognized by PBS as a model that the rest of the country could learn from. President Obama even once pointed to Mesa County as a bright example of residents receiving high-quality, low-cost health care.

Grand Junction’s residents are right to wonder why advocates for a new system of health care wanted to replace our low premiums, and strong health care outcomes with a state-government controlled system that is immediately causing major upheaval in Colorado’s health insurance market.

We’ve already seen firsthand in Grand Junction what a healthy, competitive health care marketplace looks like. That is the model we should be building on, to truly lower costs and improve outcomes, rather than the bulldozer approach which some of my colleagues in Denver have been advocating. It is now clear that the Colorado Option was the wrong way to go, but it’s not too late to turn back. We can repeal this failed experiment, and instead pursue prudent reforms to health care delivery based on models that have been proven to work. 

Senator Janice Rich represents Mesa County and part of Delta County in the Colorado State Senate and serves on the Senate Health & Human Services Committee.