Health Affairs: Colorado's bumpy road to bipartisan health insurance exchange
An article published in the February issue of Health Affairs, "Colorado’s Health Insurance Exchange: How One State Has So Far Forged A Bipartisan Path Through The Partisan Wilderness," details the western state’s experience. When Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a bill creating a state health insurance exchange in June 2011, it was the first time a state with a Republican majority in at least one legislative chamber had enacted legislation to set up a statewide exchange.
Colorado’s residents are split almost equally between Democrats and Republicans so debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was robust, to say the least. “When [the act] was conceived and passed, it required every state to have a health benefit exchange,” wrote Republican State Rep. Bob Gardner, chair of the Colorado Legislative Review Committee, which oversees the health exchange board. “But what is a health benefit exchange? It’s a label for something that I will tell you the parties have very different views about.”
The current heath insurance exchange succeeds other efforts to contain insurance costs, including a public-private initiative, CoverColorado, created in 1991, and a bipartisan creation of the General Assembly called the Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform. Several factors, according to the article, helped move the process forward, such as the state’s history of public-private health initiatives; the fact that discussions about creating an exchange began quickly; and the conscious efforts of those behind the exchange’s creation to develop a process that was as open and transparent as possible.
Gov. Hickenlooper insisted that the Colorado health insurance exchange be created by statute and not set up by executive order of the governor, partly because such executive acts can be quickly reversed if the gubernatorial office changes party.
Currently, the exchange is set to meet its goal of being financially sustainable by the January 2, 2014, deadline.
Colorado’s residents are split almost equally between Democrats and Republicans so debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was robust, to say the least. “When [the act] was conceived and passed, it required every state to have a health benefit exchange,” wrote Republican State Rep. Bob Gardner, chair of the Colorado Legislative Review Committee, which oversees the health exchange board. “But what is a health benefit exchange? It’s a label for something that I will tell you the parties have very different views about.”
The current heath insurance exchange succeeds other efforts to contain insurance costs, including a public-private initiative, CoverColorado, created in 1991, and a bipartisan creation of the General Assembly called the Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform. Several factors, according to the article, helped move the process forward, such as the state’s history of public-private health initiatives; the fact that discussions about creating an exchange began quickly; and the conscious efforts of those behind the exchange’s creation to develop a process that was as open and transparent as possible.
Gov. Hickenlooper insisted that the Colorado health insurance exchange be created by statute and not set up by executive order of the governor, partly because such executive acts can be quickly reversed if the gubernatorial office changes party.
Currently, the exchange is set to meet its goal of being financially sustainable by the January 2, 2014, deadline.
Beth Walsh,
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.