Colorado Took Healthcare Out of Washington and Implemented Medicare-for-All "Lite." Good Move or Bad?


Supreme Court Associate Justice Louis Brandeis famously urged the states to become "laboratories of democracy" (New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 1932) by testing new, alternative ideas of governance. Colorado is heeding his advice. With their Governor Jared Polis' leadership, the 2019 Colorado Legislative Session passed a number of bills that increase state control of healthcare.
The purpose of Governor Polis' reforms is clear from his Executive Order to establish the "Office of Saving People Money on Health Care." Will his plan, called the Colorado Affordable Health Care Option or CAHCO, save money for consumers? Will it reduce state spending? What will be the effect on access to care?
CAHCO has financial controls similar to federal Medicare-for-All bill, H.R. 1384, and could be called Medicare-for-All "Lite." HB 1174 puts caps on Emergency Room charges. HB 1216 places price controls on insulin and potentially other medications. SB 5 allows government to undercut American drug manufacturers by purchasing pharmaceuticals from Canada. HB 1168 creates a re-insurance fund to pay insurance companies when patients have very expensive claims. SB 238 increases payments to home health workers, assuming the state can squeeze money from Washington. And there is HB 1004.
Colorado's HB 1004 creates a public insurance option and claims it will "compete in the market against private plans." This public option produces an uneven playing field, pitting an insurance company backed by taxpayer dollars with commercial enterprises that must balance their budgets from premiums paid by rate-payers.
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