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The answer to health-care costs lies with less federal intrusion and more freedom

Health-care costs continue to be one of the most important and controversial issues facing Colorado today. A bipartisan bill is working its way through the Colorado Legislature and to the governor’s desk that will require an intensive audit of the Colorado Health Exchange.

Misuse of federal subsidies is probably the biggest issue.

Additionally, Colorado has raised the eligibility requirements for Medicaid, allowing hundreds of thousands more folks to be covered. The supplemental appropriation for Medicaid, just for the present year, is close to $250,000, and the estimated cost to the state in 2017, even with the federal government picking up 90 percent of the cost, will be $2.7 billion. That almost is one third of Colorado’s total General Fund budget. This simply is not sustainable.

By most accounts, health-care costs continue to rise. Nationalized health care is not delivering the product that we were promised. We were promised that we could keep our health insurance plans and that it would not cost each of us more. For many, that is the case, for which I am thankful, but for hundreds of thousands of policy holders, including my wife, Debbie, and I, that has not been the case.

Last year, Debbie and I knew that we were going to lose our health insurance July 1, so we were trying to get covered by the March 30 deadline. We called several of the insurance companies and were told that we must buy our insurance through Colorado’s Health Exchange. To make a long story short, we were quoted a price that increased our premium from $900 per month to $1,200 per month, and our deductible was raised from $2,000 for both of us to $10,000 for both of us. This is the case for lots of folks. Government programs seldom save the consumer money in the long run.

Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act is more about health insurance and not about reducing health-care costs. The problem has been too much government intervention through regulatory mandates on the health-care industry. Just ask the office staff of any health-care facility about the mountains of state and federally mandated paper work that they must submit, much of which is duplicative. The time spent to do this is costly and adds to the cost of our health care.

The federal government mandates that hospital emergency rooms be required to treat anyone that comes through the door; no questions asked. In addition, there are a lot of patients that either cannot or will not pay for other health-care services. This really puts a financial hardship on all of the health-care industry. To pay for those that don’t pay for services, costs are added to the bills of paying patients, which, in turn, results in higher health-insurance premiums.

The health-care issue is complicated, and there are no easy answers, but I might start with reduced government involvement and more freedom in all aspects of health care.

J. Paul Brown represents House District 59 in Colorado’s General Assembly. The district encompasses Archuleta, Hinsdale, La Plata, Ouray and San Juan counties and part of Gunnison County. Reach him at jpaul.brown.house@state.co.us.



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