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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Bill Aims to Keep Colorado Reinsurance Program Solvent, Premiums Down

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Monday, June 8, 2020   

DENVER -- Colorado lawmakers are considering a measure that would shore up the state's reinsurance program and expand access to more affordable health insurance for thousands of Coloradans who are not able to get assistance under the Affordable Care Act.

Karla Gonzales Garcia, policy director for the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR), says the COVID-19 health emergency has made it clear how each individual's health depends upon his or her neighbor's ability to access needed health care.

"Everyone deserves access to health care," Garcia states. "When we talk about how we build healthy communities, we have to come with a framework that everyone should have access to affordable, quality health care."

Senate Bill 215 would continue a federal fee on insurance carriers, which benefited from expanded coverage under the ACA, set to expire this year. For-profit carriers still would pay 2.5% of premiums, with nonprofits paying 1%.

Some members of the business community warn that the measure could hurt small businesses if insurance companies pass the fee along in raised premiums.

Garcia contends that small businesses will benefit from SB 215 because it will help them compete with larger corporations if their workers can access affordable health coverage.

She says the proposal will also help maintain coverage for thousands of Coloradans who have lost their employer-based insurance during the economic fallout of the pandemic, and expand coverage for frontline workers most at risk.

"How is it possible that, in the richest country in the world, that we do not have a system that makes sure that those in low-wage jobs have health benefits?" Garcia raises. "And unfortunately, most of them are people of color."

Garcia says some 250,000 individuals and families who purchase their health insurance on the individual market stand to benefit if SB 215 becomes law, because it will help preserve the state's reinsurance program.

In its first year, the program resulted in a 20% drop in premiums on the individual market, and some rural parts of the state saw a 35% decrease.


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