Colorado Health Insurance

A proposal that would require Colorado hospitals to pay a per-patient fee to the state could fund health coverage for an additional 200,000 state residents, the Denver Rocky Mountain News reports.

The office of Gov. Bill Ritter (D) and the Colorado Hospital Association are continuing to negotiate a fee, but CHA board members support the plan, according to CHA President Steven Summer.

A decline in smoking rates in Colorado has led to a decline in cigarette tax revenue that is used in part to fund state health insurance programs, the Denver Rocky Mountain News reports. In 2004, the state increased the cigarette tax by 64 cents per pack with the goal of using the revenue for health care and tobacco education.

Costs for employer-sponsored health insurance in Colorado for fiscal year 2009 are projected to increase by 13.7%, higher than the national average of 6% to 8% for the same period, according to respondents in the 2009 Colorado Employer Benefits Survey Report released on Friday by the Lockton Benefit Group, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports (Newsome, Colorado Springs Gazette, 10/30).

Barbara Calder and her husband from Colorado Springs in Colorado cannot afford health insurance and are selling their estate to move to Beligium where they can find affordable health insurance and healthcare.

"My husband, Bruce, and I never were able to obtain medical insurance that would cover my condition, a devastating and disabling genetic disease called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - so we are having one massive estate sale, selling our home, and moving to Belgium, where I can get the care I need at a cost we can afford explains Barbara Calder of Colorado Springs, Colo."