By John Fryar
The Daily Times-Call
BOULDER — A special commission’s eventual recommendations for comprehensive reforms to Colorado’s health-care system might not be a panacea for Boulder County’s uninsured or under-insured residents, several state lawmakers warned Monday.
The Legislature and other public policy makers still face “a whole range of problems that we have to overcome” to make health care more affordable and accessible for all Coloradans, said Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County.
Louisville Democratic Rep. Paul Weissmann said legislators are “banking a lot on the success” of the state Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform, but he added that may prove elusive.
“We have a national problem that I think, frankly, needs a national solution,” he said.
Fitz-Gerald and Weissmann, along with Democratic Reps. Jack Pommer and Claire Levy of Boulder and Dianne Primavera of Broomfield, presented their takes on the Legislature’s accomplishments on health-care issues in the past and what it might try to tackle next year, once it gets the commission’s suggestions.
The lawmakers’ comments came during a Monday morning gathering of dozens of government officials; health, human and community services leaders; and health-care providers who participated in a “Boulder County Forum on the Medically Underserved.”
Morgan Rogers — director of the Civic Forum, an arm of the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County — said after the meeting that the estimated 770,000 Coloradans who lack health insurance include nearly 30,000 Boulder County residents who either don’t have private insurance or aren’t covered by such government-sponsored programs as Medicaid or Medicare.
Rogers also emphasized that health insurance coverage — being examined by the state commission that’s to make its report to the Legislature next January — doesn’t always translate into access to needed health care.
“There is a serious risk of under-insurance, meaning a person has some form of coverage and yet may be ineligible for some preventative care or treatment and may be asked to pay for a significant portion of the bill for care,” Rogers said.
Levy said legislators also need to keep an eye on whether the state commission and policymakers will go beyond the cost of insurance and health care and take a close look at what’s driving those expenses.
Americans pay more per capita for health care “than any other country on the face of the earth,” but “our outcomes are not better” once care is provided, Levy said, adding that part of the problem may be that “we don’t know actually what things cost.”
Primavera charged that in some cases, the salaries being paid to the chief executives of health-care provider corporations and insurance companies are “obscene.”
Pommer said it’s now difficult for consumers to compare hospitals and clinics’ charges and what those providers are actually billing patients and insurance companies for.
Participants in Monday’s forum, co-sponsored by the Boulder County Human Services Coordinating Council, are expected to continue working on their examination of possible local programs to improve Boulder County residents’ access to health care.
John Fryar can be reached at 303-684-5211 or jfryar@times-call.com.
The Daily Times-Call
BOULDER — A special commission’s eventual recommendations for comprehensive reforms to Colorado’s health-care system might not be a panacea for Boulder County’s uninsured or under-insured residents, several state lawmakers warned Monday.
The Legislature and other public policy makers still face “a whole range of problems that we have to overcome” to make health care more affordable and accessible for all Coloradans, said Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County.
Louisville Democratic Rep. Paul Weissmann said legislators are “banking a lot on the success” of the state Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform, but he added that may prove elusive.
“We have a national problem that I think, frankly, needs a national solution,” he said.
Fitz-Gerald and Weissmann, along with Democratic Reps. Jack Pommer and Claire Levy of Boulder and Dianne Primavera of Broomfield, presented their takes on the Legislature’s accomplishments on health-care issues in the past and what it might try to tackle next year, once it gets the commission’s suggestions.
The lawmakers’ comments came during a Monday morning gathering of dozens of government officials; health, human and community services leaders; and health-care providers who participated in a “Boulder County Forum on the Medically Underserved.”
Morgan Rogers — director of the Civic Forum, an arm of the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County — said after the meeting that the estimated 770,000 Coloradans who lack health insurance include nearly 30,000 Boulder County residents who either don’t have private insurance or aren’t covered by such government-sponsored programs as Medicaid or Medicare.
Rogers also emphasized that health insurance coverage — being examined by the state commission that’s to make its report to the Legislature next January — doesn’t always translate into access to needed health care.
“There is a serious risk of under-insurance, meaning a person has some form of coverage and yet may be ineligible for some preventative care or treatment and may be asked to pay for a significant portion of the bill for care,” Rogers said.
Levy said legislators also need to keep an eye on whether the state commission and policymakers will go beyond the cost of insurance and health care and take a close look at what’s driving those expenses.
Americans pay more per capita for health care “than any other country on the face of the earth,” but “our outcomes are not better” once care is provided, Levy said, adding that part of the problem may be that “we don’t know actually what things cost.”
Primavera charged that in some cases, the salaries being paid to the chief executives of health-care provider corporations and insurance companies are “obscene.”
Pommer said it’s now difficult for consumers to compare hospitals and clinics’ charges and what those providers are actually billing patients and insurance companies for.
Participants in Monday’s forum, co-sponsored by the Boulder County Human Services Coordinating Council, are expected to continue working on their examination of possible local programs to improve Boulder County residents’ access to health care.
John Fryar can be reached at 303-684-5211 or jfryar@times-call.com.
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