Hospital officials and advocates for the uninsured argued Friday in favor of a bill that would impose a fee on Colorado hospitals to generate a total of $1.2 billion for expanded health care programs.
But Republicans on the House Health and Human Services Committee questioned whether the new programs were sustainable and asked whether insured patients would ultimately bear higher costs.
After a nearly seven-hour hearing, the committee approved the bill on a 5-4, party-line vote. It goes to the House Appropriations Committee.
House Bill 1293, sponsored by Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, and Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, would impose a fee on hospitals, although the exact formula has yet to be determined.
The fees would generate an estimated $600 million, which the state could then use to draw down an equal amount of federal funds to expand health care programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Basic Health Plan, or CHP+ and to pay hospitals higher Medicaid rates for taking care of those patients and indigents.
Some 800,000 Coloradans lack health insurance, including an estimated 180,000 children.
The programs would provide coverage to about 100,000 Coloradans now uninsured.
