CEO Blog: In Good Company

To Our Valued Stakeholders,

The Commonwealth Fund looked at enrollment in health insurance marketplaces in the recently concluded fourth Open Enrollment Period. Four states — Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Washington — achieved double-digit growth in plan selections, while growth slowed in other states and even declined in some.

The report said that nine of the 17 states who control some or all of their marketplace functions saw gains. We were, of course, pleased to be listed among the top gainers.

Legislative Update

The Colorado General Assembly wrapped up business for the year on Wednesday without acting on the Senate bill that would have repealed Connect for Health Colorado. The measure, which brought daylong testimony in support of our operations during a February committee hearing, did not advance out of the state Senate. The bill’s sponsor told the Denver Business Journal that he plans to continue to work on the measure.

In Recent News

National Public Radio interviewed Gov. Hickenlooper on the American Health Care Act (AHCA), passed last week by the House of Representatives. The governor said it would impact state spending by more than $1.5 billion without improving coverage.

Voters favor the Affordable Care Act (ACA) over the AHCA by a wide margin, according to a Morning Consult/POLITICO poll. For the ACA, 50% of voters approve and 42% disapprove, while the AHCA got 38% approval and 44% disapproval.

We have added a new resource to our website outlining our Priorities for Health Reform. You will find it on our Healthcare Reform Policy page with other documents relevant to the healthcare policy debate.

I’ll be taking a week off these updates next week but we will continue to keep you informed as we move forward.

Take care,

Kevin

Kevin Patterson, MURP, MPA
Chief Executive Officer
Connect for Health Colorado