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Denver, Colorado
United States
Denver, Colorado
United States
Seeking Accessible, Affordable and Quality Health CareSeeking Accessible, Affordable and Quality Health Care
HB 1143 PASSED (AARP opposed)
HB1293 PASSED (AARP supported)
HB 1273 FAILED (AARP no position)
HB 1358 FAILED (AARP opposed)
Once again in 2009 we witnessed the introduction of many health care reform bills both good and bad. One of the biggest victories of the legislative session was the passage of the Colorado Healthcare Affordability Act. House Bill 1293* (Representative Riesberg; Senator Keller) will provide health coverage to more than 100,000 Coloradans currently without insurance by initiating a fee on Colorado hospitals that will be matched with federal dollars for government-sponsored insurance. Twenty other states have similar laws on the books.
AARP Colorado was unable to lend support to House Bill 1273, Health Care for Colorado, (Representative Kefalas; Senator Foster) and House Bill 1358, Create Healthcare System for Colorado (Representative Rice) because they would have required unachievable federal waivers and had questionable funding sources.
Two bills AARP considered being the ‘wrong direction’ for achieving health care reform in Colorado were House Bill 1143, HMOs Offer Limited Benefit Plans (Representative Swalm; Senator Schwartz) and House Bill 1256, Multi-State Agreements Allowing Consumers to Purchase Out-of-State Health Insurance Products (Representative Acree). We opposed HB 1143 as it allowed small businesses to offer a limited “health benefit plan.” Current employees who have comprehensive health care plans could see these plans replaced by plans with limited benefits and higher out-of-pocket costs. Although amended to allow offering only in smaller communities in the state, HB 1143 passed and was signed into law by Governor Ritter. HB 1256 would have created an uneven playing field for in-state licensed health insurance providers by allowing unlicensed out-of-state companies access to the Colorado market. Colorado consumers would also have been left vulnerable without the consumer protections provided by the Colorado Insurance Commissioner. AARP’s position was if out-of-state companies want to play in Colorado, they need to be licensed in Colorado. Fortunately, HB 1256 failed to make it out of appropriations.
To see how your legislator voted, please click on: http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/general/aarp_colorado.how_legislators_voted.2009.doc
For more information on the bill listed, please visit our bill chart at:
These selected votes provide only a limited view of each legislator’s voting record. This selected voting record does not highlight unrecorded matters such as work in committees and constituent services. This selected voting record does not reflect the overall qualification a legislator has for public office and should not be the
sole determinate in evaluating a legislator.
Peter101 says:
Why does AARP support the healthcare bill being proposed? The current bills impacts seniors by denying services based on age and/or needs. There are sections in the bill that state if you are over 65 you cannot get a knee or hip replacement. If you are over 60 you will not receive treatment for cancer, or other life threating condition. Instead you will receive end of life consulting.
Just because you are over 60, it does not mean you are less important than a 30 year old. We have paid taxes, served our country, built schools, etc., now that we are older, the government is looking at us as a burden not an asset.
If you have retirement healthcare benefits, once the government health care package is pass, almost all companies will drop coverage for retirees. If you think you have a choice in keeping your current coverage, your are wrong. You will have only one choice, the government healthcare insurance. The current government run healthcare system is the VA. Just look what is happening there (It is a mess).
Please contact your representatives (congress) and tell them we do not want a new healthcare system, just fix the current system by focusing on reducing costs of services and insurance. Rationing care to seniors is not an option. If I wanted the proposed healthcare system I would move to Canada or the UK.
Posted: July 26, 2009 11:18PM EDT
AARPCO says:
Thank you for contacting us. Neither, the President or Congress is talking about single payer as an option to fix our broken health care system and keep in mind that legislation is still being developed. There is a great deal of misinformation out there and to help clarify our position, I suggest you check out our web site, AARP.org. We are using the debate on health care reform as an opportunity to improve Medicare and Medicaid and correct some of the problems with Medicare Part D such as the donut hole. No one knows how this will all turn out.
Just like we are interested in hearing from you, we are working to represent the interests our members as best as we can. Many of our members struggle to find and afford healthcare and this issue must be addressed. We feel the time change the broken system is now. I can assure you that we are not representing the insurance companies that have endorsement contracts with us.
Posted: July 14, 2009 11:33AM EDT
Ru55kAuK says:
Truly these are complicated issues and require much more time to understand than the average person has to invest, including myself.
In general, however, this article sounds to me like AARP is promoting the concept of government health care and I agree with Peter101 in saying that I do not support government healthcare programs and wish instead that AARP would support efforts to make a privatized health care system more affordable.
I do not want my future health and treatment programs to be decided in the same way our government now has to make decisions - Okay, within our budget do we fix roads or do we approve this guys meds? Sorry, but I don't want the government to be the one deciding what is optimal health and what are reasonable costs in achieving it...
Posted: July 10, 2009 1:42PM EDT
Peter101 says:
I wish AARP would focus on lowering health care costs and not support government run healthcare. I am totally against government run healthcare. They screw-up everything by making everything they touch a huge monster (a jobs program) costing us billions, reducing our options and no result. Wake-up. If the government gets involved senior services, procedures/ treatment plans will be limited. Keep our current system and support/demand that the government focus on reducing healthcare costs, not services.
I not support government healthcare programs.
Posted: July 8, 2009 6:12PM EDT
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