Cooperating on Health Care
With the Colorado Health Care Cooperative, Boulder Weekly columnist Dave Anderson says, Colorado could tame runaway health care costs, administrative waste and Kafkaesque paperwork.
The Colorado Democrat who aims to replace Obamacare
Colorado Public Radio Health Reporter Eric Whitney’s Feb. 25 Colorado Matters segment features an interview with State Sen. Irene Aguilar, M.D. about her proposal for a Colorado Health Care Cooperative
Payroll taxes would fund universal health care
Health Policy Solutions reporter Katie Kerwin McCrimmon looks at the universal Colorado Health Care Cooperative proposal in light of an economic impact analysis showing it would slow the rising cost of health care more than the Affordable Care Act.
Colorado proposal aims for universal health care
State Sen. Irene Aguilar will propose a universal health care plan for Colorado aimed at reigning in costs while encouraging every Coloradan to stay healthy through prevention and proactive care, Solutions reporter Katie Kerwin McCrimmon reports.
Senator, doctor, champion for the vulnerable
Solutions reporter Katie Kerwin McCrimmon explores how Denver State Sen. Irene Aguilar, M.D.’s journey through medicine and motherhood inspired her to advocate for universal health care in Colorado.
Funding Health Care with Pre-Tax dollars too Good a Deal to Ignore
Universal health care systems gain a huge financial boost by using the provisions in Federal law that allow employers and employees to pay health care premiums with pre-tax dollars. For every $100 employers spend on insurance using pre-tax dollars, employees would need their employers to an increase payroll expenses between $119 and $165 dollars for the employee to have enough left, after taxes, to purchase the same $100 of health care insurance.
Denver-area experts discuss health care reform: What’s next?
In a panel discussion on health care reform hosted by the Denver Business Journal in August, experts discuss strengths and weaknesses of the Affordable Care Act and how federal health reform will impact businesses. Despite progress, many still want to see more cost containment overall.
“Great Recession Accelerated Long-Term Decline of Employer Health Coverage.”
It used to be that almost two-thirds of U.S. children and working-age adults had employer-sponsored health insurance; Between 2007 and 2010 that number dropped to just over half, according to this recent report by the National Institute for Health Care Reform.
“Health insurers have had their chance.”
Wendell Potter, Center for Public Integrity analyst and former health insurance industry executive, shows in his Huffington Post blog why some experienced employers — large and small, Republican and Democrat — want a unified health care system.
“What if Medicare’s drug benefit was more like the VA’s?”
Health economist Austin Frakt of The Incidental Economist posits that Medicare could save money by lowering its prescription formulary choices (thus increasing its purchasing power), even after compensating beneficiaries for their loss of drug options.
“Average family health insurance policy up 5 percent”
In this story on the 2009 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, USA Today reporter Josh Fritze writes: “Since 1999, health insurance premiums for families rose 131 percent, the report found, far more than the general rate of inflation, which increased 28 percent over the same period.”
“Medicare for all is the solution”
Estimates for how much it would save to cover the U.S. population with Medicare range from $58 to $400 billion annually, according to Robert Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California Berkeley. And, he says, more Americans would get quality care.
