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Chamber fighting insurance measure

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

The bill on Gov. Ritter’s desk would keep insurers from weighing employees’ health history.

By Will Shanley
Denver Post Staff Writer

Article Last Updated: 04/30/2007 11:07:09 PM MDT

One of Colorado’s largest business groups on Monday urged Gov. Bill Ritter to veto a bill that would prohibit insurers from considering employees’ health and claims histories when setting health insurance premiums for small businesses.

The Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, the statewide chamber of commerce, said during a news conference Monday at the state Capitol that House Bill 1355 could result in rate hikes for nearly two- thirds of small businesses in Colorado. That in turn could prompt healthy people to drop their coverage, potentially pushing insurance premiums higher overall, the group said.

"We are concerned about the potential aftermath of this bill," said Ralph Pollack, an official with the association.

The bill, which applies only to businesses with 50 or fewer workers, would essentially reverse a 2003 legislative change that allowed insurance companies to offer premium discounts to businesses with relatively healthier workers. (more…)

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Father finds $9,000 worth of errors in hospital bill

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

DENVER - It wasn’t that Will Schafer didn’t feel grateful for the care his son received during a short stay in The Children’s Hospital. Yet looking at the bill, Schafer recalls, he felt sick.

Then he says he felt angry.

"I get a bill and it’s $21,000," said the 46-year-old sales manager for Transwest Trucks in Commerce City, whose medical insurance required he pay 20 percent, or $4,000. "There was no surgery. There were no broken bones. … So I’m going, ‘How can this be?’"

It took weeks for the Schafers to sort through the bills from their son, Michael’s, hospital stay, but in the end, they found $9,000 worth of accounting errors. Their bill was adjusted, but it’s a cautionary tale that health care consumer advocates say others should heed.

"It shouldn’t be a full-time job to really have to review pages and pages and pages of medical bills," said Denise de Percin, executive director for the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative in Denver. "Hospitals need to have clearer, more concise billing, so that the people who look at it can say, ‘Yeah that makes sense,’ or, ‘No, I think there’s some charges here that don’t make sense.’" (more…)

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Senate tentatively OKs health-insurance bill

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

Republicans protest that the bill, which bars insurers from looking at a worker’s health history, will raise premiums.

By Jeri Clausing Denver Post Staff Writer

Article Last Updated: 04/24/2007 12:49:54 AM MDT

A bill aimed at reducing health insurance premiums for employees of small businesses won initial Senate approval Monday over Republican objections it would force rate hikes for others.

"The purpose of health insurance is to spread the cost," sponsoring Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, said in pushing passage of the House Bill 1355.

The current system, he says, has "a chilling effect on people who utilize their benefits."

The bill, which has already passed the House, aims to reduce insurance costs for businesses with 50 or fewer workers by prohibiting insurers from considering employees’ health and claims histories. (more…)

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