Colorado Senate Committee Passes SB 11-168

[Denver Dave]

Colorado Senate Committee Passes SB 11-168
to design the Colorado Health Care Cooperative
http://healthcareforallcolorado.org/?p=83

The Colorado Senate
Committee on Business, Labor and Technology
Passes Senator Aguilar's Bill!

Colorado Capitol, February 28, 2011.
After a public hearing that lasted over four hours, the Colorado Senate Committee on Business, Labor and Technology passed Senate Bill 11-168 by a vote of 4 to 3.

Senate Bill 11-168 is the first step toward establishing the Colorado Health Cooperative to provide a system of care that will make affordable quality health care available to everyone in Colorado. The bill will create the Colorado Health Care Authority which will oversee the detailed design of the system. The completed design will be submitted to the state legislature and then to the voters of Colorado for final approval.

Only three persons testified in opposition to the bill. Opponents primarily represented the commercial insurance industry and attempted to paint the proposed as a single payer system. Their misrepresentations were quickly countered by Senator Aguilar who pointed out that the proposal will allow both patients and doctors to independently choose to move to a more effective "medical home, integrated health service" organization promoted by the bill or patients and care providers could choose to remain in a higher cost fee for service system like we have now.

Eighteen citizens gave compelling testimony in favor of Senate Bill 11-168. Those who spoke in support of the bill included individual citizens who shared their personal experiences of abuse at the hands of commercial health insurance companies and other individuals testified that they no health care financial coverage because their employers did not offer insurance benefits and the costs were too high. Some witnesses told of being unable to start a new business because their families would lose their health care. The supporting citizens included nurses, doctors, a dentist, small business owners and an advocate for senior citizens.

The bill will be heard before the full Colorado Senate in about three weeks. If the bill is passed by the Senate it will move to the Colorado House of Representatives.

We urge all Colorado health care reform advocates to contact the state senators and representatives from their districts to ask them to vote for the bill.
http://healthcareforallcolorado.org/?p=83

[madamesilverspurs]

1. We are immensely fortunate

to have Irene Aguilar M.D. in the Senate. She is passionately dedicated to the idea of making health care available for all, and she has the hands-on experience to inform her colleagues of the realities that need to be addressed. Although I don't live in her district I've already had more conversation with her than with my own senator, Scott Renfroe. In Irene Aguilar I finally know that someone in the senate actually represents my interests.

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[DavidDvorkin]

2. Great, but the House won't follow up on this.

[joshcryer]

3. If it can be shown to be the cheapest alternative I think they might.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. For some of them, ideology will always triumph

But I hope you're right about some of them -- maybe enough of them to do the trick.

I'm always pessimistic, and I always hope to be proven wrong.

[joshcryer]

5. I'll get ready to write some snail mail. I was completely unaware of this movement.

Thanks btw for posting it and sharing it here.

[backscatter712]

6. The Colorado GOP's marginally more reasonable than the national GOP...

so there might be a defector or two, but it's probably more likely that the ideologues will carry the day and kill this bill in the House.