Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday signed his second executive order, starting down the path of fulfilling a pledge on health care made in his Jan. 10 State of the State address.

The new Office of Saving People Money on Health Care will be headed by Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, a former lawmaker, cancer survivor and health care advocate.

The office will “study, identify and implement policies that will lower health care costs,” according to Polis’ office, and at an initial cost of $227,000 for the first year.

Surrounded at Wednesday’s signing event by lawmakers and Coloradans who have lived, often with difficulty, with high health care costs, Polis said the office will also bring in voices often missing in the discussion on the costs of health care and premiums: Those of “the patients and those forced to pay too much for health care.”

Its priorities include pursuing a state reinsurance program  designed to help private insurers keep individual premiums down.

Polis wants to give consumers increased up-front hospital price transparency and reduce prescription costs, possibly by importing cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.

He also hopes to pursue a state-sponsored insurance option as an alternative to private insurance.

Formal legislative approval of the new office, as well as its funding, will be covered in a bill sponsored by House Majority Leader Alec Garnett of Denver, who told Colorado Politics the bill would be introduced later in the day Wednesday.

During the 40-minute news conference, Polis was also asked what he would do about the pending teacher strike in Denver Public Schools, which teachers authorized in voting that ended Tuesday night.

Polis said he has not been asked to intervene either by the Denver Classroom Teachers’ Association, the Colorado Education Association, nor DPS, a requirement for the state to take action to stop a strike. 

Without a settlement, the strike could start as soon as next Monday, Jan. 28. The union’s contract with DPS expired on Jan. 18, and the two sides have hit a stalemate in negotiations over pay hikes and the current pay system.

In a statement Tuesday night, DCTA President Henry Roman said “Denver teachers want to be in their classrooms with their students, not out on strike. … A strike is the last resort. We’ve exhausted all our options. DPS has made its choice to keep critical funding in central administration, and not to apply more of those funds to the classroom where they would provide the greatest benefit for student learning.”

In case of a strike, DPS officials say they plan to keep schools open, using substitute teachers. And new district Superintendent Susana Cordova told 9News that the district has been trying to recruit federal workers idled by the partial government shutdown to serve as additional substitutes.

The Polis administration has set up a website for updates on the strike, which on Wednesday provided information on the steps that must be taken for the union to strike. According to the website, the state Department of Labor and Employment could delay a strike under its authority for up to 180 days.

Ernest Luning and the Associated Press contributed.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 9:52 a.m. Jan. 25 to correct the date of Polis’ first State of the State address, which occurred on Jan. 10.