Rep. John Kefalas has done a stellar job of shepherding the Colorado Guaranteed Health Care Act (HB 1273) through two committees - Business Affairs & Labor and Appropriations - and a second reading in the House. The bill is scheduled for 3rd reading and final vote in the House on Monday, April 13, where it now has 32 votes. One more vote is needed or it will die.

Six Democrats have yet to indicate they will vote affirmatively.

Please call and email each of the following representatives before 9 a.m. on Monday morning.

Speaker Terrence Carroll 303-866-2909 terrance.carroll.house@state.co.us

Rep. Kathleen Curry 303-866-2945 kathleencurry@montrose.net

Rep. Wesley McKinley 303-866-2398 mckinley@cowboywes.com

Rep. Karen Middleton 303-866-3911 karen@karenmiddleton.com

Rep. Jim Riesberg 303-866-2929 jim.riesberg.house@state.co.us

Rep. Christine Scanlan 303-866-2952 christine.scanlan.house@state.co.us


The Board of Directors of the Health District of Northern Larimer County wrote a 6-page objective analysis of HB 1273, and voted unaminously to endorse the bill - one of more than 60 group endorsers. Read their Analysis.

The Northern Colorado Business Report, which has remained out in front in reporting on health care reform, on March 13 printed an editorial endorsement of HB 1273. Read their Endorsement.

Opponents of HB 1273 have predictably focused on "free market" arguments invoking "competition" and "choice", though, honestly, people want a choice of health care providers, not minimum-benefit insurances that leave them at risk. Rep. Kefalas has consistently maintained that to move to a quality-centered health care system, competition should occur among providers, not among for-profit insurances. Kefalas rightly notes that we need a new health care paradigm that also permits greater transparency in order to facilitate determination of best practices and health care outcomes. Currently, thousands of different insurers each maintain secrecy around their own proprietary data.

One of the oft-used arguments to foreclose debate of HB 1273 - used by Republicans and by the governor’s office - has been the notion that the 208 Commission studied the single payer proposal in depth and rejected it. Nevertheless, we who were present at most of the 208 Commission meetings witnessed the almost immediate dismissal of any consideration of the Single Payer model. There was true disbelief expressed by Commission Chair Bill Lindsay (among others) - "That can’t be!" - when the Lewin Group reported the cost savings of single payer. It was the only one of 5 proposals that showed cost savings for providers, businesses, families, hospitals, and a net savings for the state of $1.4 billion, as well as the ability to provide comprehensive coverage for all.

There was never any attempt by the Commission to follow up with study of  the Single Payer model - rather, they dismissed it in 4 cursory sentences in their Final Report to the legislature, calling it "politically unfeasible." The Commission devoted most of their time to writing their own proposal of incremental reforms based on the Massachusetts model of a mandate for private insurances.

So, debate around the Single Payer model has been consistently short-circuited at all levels, with an effective media blackout among the large Denver-area print media. It bears repeating that throughout the 208 Commission process, the Denver Post and The Rocky Mountain News rejected pieces related to the Single Payer model, preferring instead pieces by "free-market" advocates. The business editor of the News informed me that he did not want "to confuse his readers" with information about single payer. By comparision, the Ft. Collins and Pueblo newspapers excelled at presenting pros and cons of all aspects of the health care reform debate.

We have yet to have a thorough honest debate of the Single Payer model of health care that has not been distorted by opponents’ framing, too often with capitulation from some of our Democratic leaders. As recently as April 7 when Rep. Diana DeGette gave her signature health care reform speech before the City Club of Denver, she conceded the issue by using opponents’ framing of health care reform. Promising "strong doctor-patient relationships - free from government interference...," DeGette disregarded the fact that only a single-payer model offers full choice of providers; nor did she mention the $20 billion annual interference of private insurance plans that daily breach patient-doctor relationships, gaming the system using "Denial Management" to deny, delay and renege on insurance claims. "...let there be no doubt: ‘socialized medicine’ is not coming to America," promised DeGette. Again, our Democratic leaders too often fail to define issues and inform people, but rather fall into the trap of letting Republicans and corporate interests define the terms of every debate.

For the first time since Rep. Kefalas introduced the Colorado Guaranteed Health Care Act (HB 1273) this legislative session, on Monday April 6 there was a relatively brief (1-1/2 hour) window for debate about the issue of single payer on the House floor. It was a powerful experience to witness  Democrats stepping up to present the case for a sytemic health care reform, countering the specious arguments presented by the opposition. I will summarize the April 6 HB 1273 House floor debate in a subsequent post.