Colorado Gov. Ritter Proposes Plan To Expand Coverage to 100,000 Uninsured State Residents

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) on Thursday announced a $1.2 billion plan to collect fees from hospitals as a way to draw down additional federal matching funds to provide health insurance for at least 100,000 additional uninsured state residents, the Denver Post reports. Under the Colorado Healthcare Affordability Act, the fee is expected to generate about $600 million from hospitals, which would be put into a state fund. The fund would be used to draw down the federal matching funds, all of which would be used to extend coverage to more uninsured state residents. The proposal would prevent hospitals from shifting the cost of the fee onto patients and would require transparent accounting of fees paid by each hospital and new revenue from Medicaid reimbursements annually, according to state Sen. Moe Keller (D).

Supporters of the plan say that it will ultimately drive down health care costs. Data in Colorado and West Virginia have shown that hospital bills sent to insurers decrease when government reimbursement for Medicaid beneficiaries increases, according to the Colorado Hospital Association. Denver Health CEO Patricia Gabow said that "anything that decreases the number of uninsured helps the people" by lowering costs and covering more families without insurance. However, state Rep. Frank McNulty (R) said, "When we're in a deep recession, it's not the time to grow government," adding, "That's precisely what Gov. Ritter is doing with this proposal."

The proposal requires approval from the state Legislature and the federal government (Brown, Denver Post, 2/27).