Betty Boyd

Under House Bill 1293, a monthly fee assessment on a percentage of the revenue produced by Colorado hospitals will be deposited into a cash fund in the state's Department of Health Care Policy and Financng.  This revenue would then be matched by the federal government's Medicaid program. With this extra influx of dollars into the state's program, hospitals' reimbursement rates will increase.  The extra money will also allow the State of Colorado to increase public health care benefits by:

• Offering coverage to parents of children who are eligible for CHP+ or Medicaid
• Offering coverage to pregnant women and children in CHP+ who are at 250% of the poverty level (formerly 205%)
• Creating a buy-in program for disabled individuals, allowing them, or their employers, to pay for Medicaid benefits on a sliding scale basis
• Providing continuous 12-month coverage for children covered by Medicaid
• Increasing eligibility of childless adults who are not currently covered by Medicaid

The extra dollars will also decrease the amount of hospital deficits which are passed on to private payers.  The extra coverage is also designed to keep down utilization costs of urgent care centers by promoting greater usage of primary care physicians by program participants.