The Price of Wellness
Monday, August 27th, 2007
Proposals to bring better medical care to more Coloradans could cost more than $1 billion for families, employers, and the state and federal governments, according to an analysis released Tuesday.
Colorado’s 208 Commission - created by the legislature last year to develop health care reform ideas - is now plowing through an economic analysis of four very different ideas for changing health care.
The problem: About 17 percent of Coloradans have no health insurance, slightly more than the national average.
Those 790,000 people have worse health outcomes than the insured, and when they get expensive care from hospital emergency rooms, it boosts the cost of health insurance for other people and businesses.
The solutions range from a limited, low-cost health insurance plan cutting the number of uninsured by 40 percent to all but eliminating private insurance by bringing everyone under a single state plan funded by raising income and payroll taxes.
The 260-page analysis lays out how much each plan will cost and who will pay.
"Now we can get a real sense of what happens when you mandate coverage versus making coverage optional; what’s the impact of subsidies, of increasing Medicaid coverage?" said Bill Lindsay, the commission’s chairman. "These are the details we need."
The report was done by the Lewin Group, a Virginia-based health care consultant.
The commission’s 27 members must sort through the details and make a recommendation to the governor and the legislature later this year.
The four plans being considered:
The new analysis suggests only 40 percent of the uninsured would get coverage - many through a new, limited-benefit plan from private insurers.
The commission could pick one of these plans and is also considering a combined approach. (more…)
Documents Needed to Prove Lawful Presence
Thursday, August 16th, 2007
Department of Revenue Rule Implementing HB 07-1314
FACT SHEET
I. Background
In the summer of 2006 during a Special Session of the State Legislature, SSHB 06-1023 was passed. It required citizens and legal immigrants applying for public benefits to prove lawful presence before they could be determined eligible. The law allowed for the temporary use of more than just the five permanent documents allowed by 1023. It also established a temporary waiver process for those who could not provide any of the documents required by 1023.
In 2007, HB 07-1314, which amends SS HB06-1023, was passed. It authorizes the Department of Revenue (DOR) to make permanent the use of a broad list documents to prove lawful presence and to make permanent the waiver process that can be used if applicants are unable to provide any of the documents needed. The official DOR Rule that implements the law and a list of all the documents that can be used to verify lawful presence can be viewed at this [link]
The rule is effective on August 1, 2007. Note that Attachments A and B of the Rule list the many documents that can be used. The rule also provides more information about the waiver and appeal processes. For your convenience, the long list of documents that can be used by citizens and lawful immigrants are at the end of this fact sheet as well.
The Rule is intended to eliminate, as much as possible, the need to obtain a waiver from the DOR, by allowing one of a long list of documents to be provided by an applicant when s/he applies for assistance at Benefit Agencies. Applicants should not be sent to DOR by Benefit Agencies unless the applicant cannot provide any of the documents allowed and the Benefit Agencies decide a self-declaration and/or a third party declaration is not acceptable. There will likely be limited use of this option as the federal law indicates it should be used cautiously and in unusual circumstances. (more…)