DENVER –  In case you missed it, a new analysis by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) warns that Colorado’s state government-controlled health insurance system, known as the Colorado Option, could force health care providers in the state to choose between passing on costs to Coloradans or cutting services for patients.

As The Center Square reports, CSI’s analysis finds that the state government-controlled system “does not accurately reflect inflation as a variable in its rate calculations. ‘Our findings simply mean that the Colorado Option plan will struggle to pay medical providers rates that keep up with their underlying costs,’ Chris Brown, CSI’s president of policy and research, said,” adding that it “could force many health care providers to make some ‘tough choices.’”

The possible consequences could include unaffordable higher costs for Coloradans, even those with private coverage, or decreased access to the high-quality health care Colorado patients rely on. “As we have demonstrated in our previous research, this will force difficult choices across the market, as providers choose to cut services or pass on costs to the remaining private insurance market, thereby increasing rates on everyone else,” Brown added.
 

• To read the full Common Sense Institute analysis, CLICK HERE.