{"id":94121,"date":"2019-05-09T18:49:24","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T00:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/will-rural-residents-reap-benefits-from-reinsurance-plan\/"},"modified":"2019-05-09T18:49:24","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T00:49:24","slug":"will-rural-residents-reap-benefits-from-reinsurance-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/will-rural-residents-reap-benefits-from-reinsurance-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Will rural residents reap benefits from reinsurance plan?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"State
State lawmakers passed a bill last week that promises to reduce individual insurance premiums for residents on the Western Slope who purchase insurance through Connect for Health Colorado, the state\u2019s health exchange.<\/span>David Zalubowski\/Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

DENVER \u2013 Colorado\u2019s reinsurance plan, passed by lawmakers in the final days of the legislative session, promises to reduce individual insurance premiums on the Western Slope by 30%, bringing relief to mountain towns like Durango where seasonal and transitional workers struggle to afford insurance.<\/p>\n

The plan, House Bill 1168<\/a>, had been an important piece of Gov. Jared Polis\u2019 roadmap to reducing insurance costs across Colorado.<\/p>\n

It is intended to benefit Western Slope residents who purchase insurance through Connect for Health Colorado, the state\u2019s health exchange, because they are not insured by an employer.<\/p>\n

In La Plata County, about 3,000 residents purchased insurance for 2019 through the exchange. In Montezuma County, about 800 purchased the insurance.<\/p>\n

The plan would pass the cost of the most expensive insurance claims onto federal government funds and hospitals, absorbing some costs typically assumed by insurers and lowering premiums for all residents who shop on the individual market.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that we will be able to achieve that 30% reduction on the Western Slope,\u201d said Rep. Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon.<\/p>\n

Funded for two years, the $120 million reinsurance program will mostly rely on redirected federal insurance subsidies but also will pool money from hospital provider fees and the state\u2019s general fund. It will apply only to the 8.7% of Coloradans who shop for insurance on the individual market \u2013 often small business owners or seasonal employees. The bill requires a reduction of 20% to 25% on plans offered in other areas of the state.<\/p>\n

But the reinsurance program\u2019s benefits will be particularly felt on the Eastern Plains and the Western Slope, where higher numbers of Coloradans purchase individual insurance and contend with higher prices and fewer options. Over time, McCluskie hopes the plan will expand numbers of Coloradans who buy individual insurance and encourage insurance companies to offer more options.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we are able to drive more people into the individual market place, and if there are more lives in that pool, then the rates will come down anyway,\u201d McCluskie said.<\/p>\n

McCluskie\u2019s bill cleared several hurdles on its journey through the Capitol \u2013 including objections from hospitals, which claimed that an early version of the bill violated federal law \u2013 but still must clear two final tests: getting Polis\u2019 official signature and receiving a waiver to use federal subsidies to fund the program.<\/p>\n

Polis ended the 72nd legislative session with hundreds of bills to sign and has promoted the reinsurance plan as part of his administration\u2019s effort to reduce health care costs. While receiving the federal waiver is not guaranteed, a handful of states have already received approval to run reinsurance programs, including Alaska, Oregon, Wisconsin and Maine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government is becoming more familiar with this process,\u201d said Vince Plymell, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Insurance.<\/p>\n

The DOI expects to apply for the waiver by the end of May, and hopes to receive approval by the fall, in time for the 2020 open enrollment period for health insurance.<\/p>\n

If the reinsurance plan goes into effect, it might have the most immediate effect on insurance costs of any measure passed by the Legislature, even if it will apply only to a small group. But part of the bill\u2019s controversy is that it does not save the state money, and instead relieves one group of higher insurance costs by passing it on to another, said Allie Morgan, director of legislative services for the Colorado Health Institute, a Denver-based policy group.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily saving money net to the system,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cIt\u2019s shuffling it around, but that means that there are winners and losers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hospitals will be paying $40 million for the program out of provider fees. Insurance carriers will not contribute to the program unless the federal government suspends an Affordable Care Act tax, which would then be used to partially fund the program, McCluskie said.<\/p>\n

But after two years of multiple drafts and setbacks, McCluskie expects the program to be a success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are multiple benefits if we can really make that 30% reduction,\u201d she said, referring to the premium reductions she hopes to see for her district, which spans Delta, Gunnison, Lake, Pitkin and Summit counties. \u201cI\u2019m nervous and excited and anxious \u2013 particularly after significant challenges. That waiver has got to come through.\u201d<\/p>\n

rhandy@ durangoherald.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Legislature would apply to open market customers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[13,1141,668],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-94121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-healthcare-provider","tag-public-health"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94121"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=94121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}