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Health care premiums bill dies

Matt Stensland
Residents living in the east, west and Grand Junction health insurance regions would be eligible for financial relief under the bill.
Courtesy Photo

— A bipartisan bill aimed at reducing the financial burden on middle-income rural Colorado residents who are paying an exorbitant amount in health care premiums died in the state legislature this week.

“I’m very disappointed that this measure to help rural Coloradans to deal with high health insurance premiums failed,” said bill co-sponsor Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, D-Steamboat Springs.

The bill was struck down by the State Senate Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. The three Republican members voted against it. The two Democrat members were for it.



“It’s petty politics, what’s going on here,” Mitsch Bush said.

This was the second bill co-sponsored by Mitsch Bush that was killed in committee this week. A bill that would have placed an issue on the ballot asking voters to approve a 0.5 percent sales tax increase to fund $3.5 billion in road work was also shot down.



“Both those bills had strong bipartisan support coming out of the house,” Mitsch Bush said.

The health care premium bill passed the Colorado House 42-22.

It aimed to help people whose income is between 400 and 500 percent of the federal poverty level and who use more than 15 percent of their income to pay for health insurance premiums.

The bill would have helped people living in any of the three highest premium areas of the state, including Routt County, in the state’s western region.

People with eligible incomes who use more than 15 percent of their income on health insurance would have been eligible for relief stipends beginning July 1.

The bill included a set-aside of $5.7 million, which would have been available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Mitsch Bush said many of the people who would have been eligible for the money were individuals or couples in their 40s, 50s and early 60s with no children living at home who have higher premiums because of their older age.

To reach Matt Stensland, call 970-871-4247, email mstensland@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @SBTStensland


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