insurance

This special flyer distributed at the Health Care Day of Action event at the state Capitol summarizes issues Colorado residents and employers face in paying the growing costs of health care coverage. It also lists the sponsors of the event and has a cartoon depicting the health care coverage crisis.

Policy brief explaining federal and state legislative activity relating to SUTA-dumping and explaining the issue.

Small group health insurance premiums increased an average of 84 percent between 1996 and 2002 in Colorado as well as the nation.

In 2003-04, the national uninsured rate averaged 15.7 percent. During the same time period, 17.1 percent of Coloradans (nearly 770,000 people) reported having no private or public health coverage.

Employment dynamics have a direct effect on health insurance coverage because most people obtain their health insurance through their workplace. In 2002-04, about three-fourths (441,000 people) of working-age Coloradans (age 18-64) who were uninsured reported working at some point during the previous calendar year.

HB 06-1327 represents a net opportunity gain for Colorado. It allows workers to count their more recent earnings when qualifying for unemployment benefits.

We need to find ways to bring down the cost of coverage between jobs so that more middle class families can afford to continue coverage when they leave a job. One approach may be to make Colorado???s health care tax credit permanent and refundable, so workers can recover some of the costs of retaining health coverage between jobs.

Using new U.S. Census Bureau data available through a multi-state project on working poor families, the Bell Policy Center is releasing a one-year update on its 2004 Opportunity Lost report.

We should continue to require insurance companies to offer small employers and individuals low-cost health insurance policies that provide basic services and protect families from excessive medical expenses.

We should establish a system for small employer risk pool purchasing. The idea is to allow small businesses to join together, pool risk and leverage purchasing power like larger businesses are able to do. This is a form of community rating that will spread costs, moderate premiums and expand coverage to more Colorado families.