Colorado State legislature has voted in favor to revoke its Connect for Health Colorado, one of the healthcare exchange in the U.S. managed by the states.
Finance Committee in the State legislature voted 3-2 on Tuesday Feb. 7 to advance the revocation bill to the next hearing. The bill was sponsored by Republican Senator Jim Smallwood, who argued that the insurance companies are bailing from the health exchange, with high premiums. While the health exchange was paid by taxpayers who don’t even use it, according to CBS Denver.
“At some point I think we have to look at do the costs outweigh the pros on it,” Senator Smallwood said regarding the cost of the Connect for Health Colorado which subsidized by tens of millions of dollars from taxpayers money.
Senator Smallwood said the financial sustainability of the Connect for Health Colorado has been questioned since three years ago. While in more than a dozen counties, there is only one insurance carrier involved in the healthcare exchange.
On the other hand, according to report from the U.S. Treasury Department as quoted by Denver Post, there are 38,000 of small businesses and small-scaled entrepreneurs relied on the healthcare. Those small businesses have been covered by the healthcare since its enactment 2014.
Connect for Health Colorado is the first healthcare exchange enacted under the Affordable Care Act nicknamed Obamacare, the initiative to reform United States health care program. Despite many oppositions, the report showed there are many individuals covered by the exchange. Nevertheless, there are also many obstacles in the implementation including the reluctance of insurance company to join the healthcare exchange.
Furthermore, President Trump has promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act citing its inefficiency to provide affordable health care. After the Finance Committee of the Colorado State legislature passed the revocation bill, it will now go to Senate Appropriations Committee. However, the bill will face a big challenge in the Democratic-controlled House.
Watch the VOA News report regarding Connect for Health Colorado as the first healthcare experiment in the U.S. below:
