Bucking the national trend, the rate of people without health insurance in Colorado has held steady this year, according to a major new study released Wednesday. The every-other-year Colorado Health Access Survey found that a record-low 6.5% of Coloradans are without health coverage, identical to the survey’s 2017 finding and down from the 15.8% of […]
health care costs
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Which was worse: A Colorado man’s bachelor party hangover or the hangover from his ER bill?
By Markian Hawryluk, Kaiser Health News Two days before his wedding, Cameron Fischer had one heck of a bachelor party, hitting a few bars in the Old Town section of Fort Collins, with his friends into the wee hours. The next morning, the 30-year-old IT professional from nearby Loveland woke up with a killer hangover. “I […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s reinsurance program could fall $50 million short next year, according to health insurer estimates
Update on Dec. 4, 2019: Since publication, The Sun has done extensive additional reporting that necessitates an update to this story. As part of reporting this story, The Sun asked Richard Rush, who has worked as an actuary for local insurance companies and who now works as a private consultant, to review the insurers’ filings. […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News
Denver-area hospitals made a record $2 billion in profits in 2018, according to a new report
For 25 years, health care analyst Allan Baumgarten has been studying the hospital market in Colorado, and his new report will show something it never has before: Denver-area hospitals surged past the $2 billion mark in profits in 2018. The 27 metro-area hospitals Baumgarten includes in his report made just over $2 billion in pre-tax […]
Posted inHealth, News
How much does an ER visit cost in Colorado? It depends on where you go.
Take a deep breath and imagine an unpleasant scenario: It’s late at night, your kid is really sick and you need to go to the emergency room. How much are you going to be charged just to walk through the door? The answer, according to a new analysis by a Colorado nonprofit, varies widely depending […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
With objections from Canada and drug companies, Colorado’s plan to import prescription medicines could be in trouble
To Colorado officials charged with developing one of the nation’s first state programs to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, the announcement last month by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar seemed like great news. Not only was the Trump administration changing course after initially being skeptical of such importation schemes, but it […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Health care is a right, not just for the privileged
Sometimes you just have to take a leap into the unknown when you see that the status quo is simply not working. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt did just that when he signed Social Security into law. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson did the same with Medicare, which provides health care to all Americans […]
Posted inNews, Opinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Congress should save Coloradans from sky-high air ambulance charges
At the moment, Congress is considering the Lower Health Care Cost Act, proposed by the Senate HELP Committee. It is an important step toward protecting patients from excessive air ambulance charges. The draft bill would cap out-of-network rates to the local median negotiated in-network rate for the same insurer, thereby protecting patients with little negotiating power […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Health insurance companies want lower premiums. But here’s why they’re so high.
Gov. Jared Polis recently announced massive reductions in premiums due to the reinsurance program passed by the legislature this year. For some areas of Colorado, residents buying health care coverage on the individual market could see reductions of 18% – 40% in their premiums for 2020. As health plans, we were delighted to see such […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Politics and Government
Democrats in Colorado’s U.S. Senate race split on Medicare for All, as Bennet warns it’s “one sure way” to lose
It’s a question splitting Democrats on the national stage and in Colorado’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race: Do you support government-run “Medicare for All” health insurance? The answer carries significant political stakes. Colorado’s U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who is running for president and offering an alternative public option proposal, says a Democrat who supports Medicare […]