Talent agency sent out models on the 16th street mall to hand out Get Covered cards Oct. 1 brought by the Colorado HealthOP. The get covered cards shows people how to get health insurance on connectforhealthco.com. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
The Colorado Division of Insurance’s decision to shut down Colorado HealthOP is great for insurance companies and terrible for taxpayers and consumers. They are forcing 83,000 Coloradans to purchase significantly more expensive insurance (for my family, itap around $50 more per person per month), and by removing the lowest-cost option, all of the other insurers can further raise rates on everyone. Also, by closing the co-op, they are leaving the taxpayers on the hook for $72 million, which the co-op would otherwise be paying back on their loan.
Another option could be to allow them to stay open for another year; if they aren’t profitable after 2016, then they could be forced to close. But if they are profitable, it will save taxpayers $72 million and keep costs down for all Coloradans.
Clearly this decision was not made in the best interest of the taxpayers and people.
Ross Kelman, Denver
This letter was published in the Nov. 3 edition.
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