Donna Lynne, DPH, left her role as group president of Kaiser Permanente’s Colorado, Pacific Northwest and Hawaii regions in 2016 to become lieutenant governor of Colorado. According to the International Business Times, she may be preparing to run for governor in 2018.
If she does, she may face scrutiny for past actions at Kaiser, which was sanctioned twice by Colorado regulators for “violating consumer protection laws” under her watch. She’s also been an outspoken critic of single-payer healthcare proposals such as the ballot measure defeated in Colorado in 2016.
“It is difficult to imagine that a health insurance executive, whose company donated $500,000 to directly oppose (the single-payer ballot measure) and affordable, quality health care for all Coloradans, would have the best interests of our citizens and their health at heart,” said Nathan Wilkes of Healthcare for All Coloradans, a group which backed the single-payer proposal.
She does appear to have the support of current Gov. John Hickenlooper, who called her “a Hoover vacuum cleaner of problems. They just disappear, and everyone’s happy.”
Read the full article at the link below:
John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.