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Issues & Choices Regarding Colorado Health Insurance & Health Care

Issues and Choices in Colorado

Policymakers have relied heavily on private market forces to address the tripartite goals of quality, cost, and access to health care in Colorado. With the exception of frail elders and people with significant disabilities in need of on-going long-term care services, Colorado has one of the leanest Medicaid programs in the country. This leanness extends to other publicly funded health programs, including public health initiatives, the Child Health Insurance Program, and public subsidies intended to stimulate the small group insurance market.

Since 1994, Colorado has enacted a series of regulatory reform initiatives to stimulate the small group health insurance market. Small firms (1-50 employees) are the market segment in Colorado and nationally that traditionally has experienced the highest rates of market failure. Colorado policymakers' reliance on market competition has assumed that value (low cost/high quality) will result when insurers are able to compete in a market that is not overly encumbered by regulatory mandates and oversight.

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