As one of the rockiest bills in his agenda prepares to drop, Gov. Jared Polis provided an update to his roadmap on lowering health care prices at the state Capitol Thursday.

His lunchtime press conference foreshadows the expected introduction of a bill to enact a public option health insurance program – a public-private endeavor to provide below-market rates and, theoretically, pull down prices across the state through competition.

The governor had little to say about it, however, instead looking around for the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Dylan Roberts of Avon and Sen. Kerry Donovan of Vail.

Polis said his administration had worked closely with them “to help make sure it’s a bill that will save people money on health care, increase competition, and we’re very excited to work with the legislature to help provide more choices for Coloradans saving money on health care.”

He deferred a second question from Colorado Politics about when and what it would look like, as many wait anxiously to see what the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate might be voting on in the next few weeks.

“We’re very confident a public option in Colorado can really help reduce costs and improve access, particularly choice in rural areas,” Polis replied.

Roberts told Colorado Politics the bill’s introduction is imminent and will reflect the work and cooperation from all sides of the cost equations — consumers, insurers, hospitals and drugmakers. 

The plan is expected to include price caps on reimbursement based on how much the state reimburses providers for Medicaid recipients.

The state believes they can do it at 143%, but hospitals say the move will only shift costs to those who get insurance through their employers and strain rural hospitals, which already are working at narrow profit margins.

Other bills this year and last year seek to improve the transparency on what the industry charges, including ensuring that rebates paid to insurance companies get passed on to customers in the form of lower premiums.

They already have passed laws making it easier for groups, including counties and trade professions, to band together and form a co-op to get better group rates than the individual markets provide. The legislature also capped out-of-pocket insulin prices at $100 and took on surprise billing by out-of-network providers.

The press conference gave Polis the chance to tick through the bills he and other Democrats have pushed through aimed at one of his key campaign promises, lowering health care costs and improving access to preventive and behavioral health services.

“Check,” he announced accomplishments, as Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, who heads up his Office of Saving People Money on Health Care, marked off promises on a board displayed at his left.

As applause rang out from health care advocates in the Capitol’s West Foyer, Polis raised his voice above it.

“We know there’s more work ahead,” the governor said. “… Health care is a multi-pronged issue. There’s no simple way about it. There’s not one solution that somehow fixes health care.”

Colorado’s health care costs are the second-fastest rising in the country, and hospital profit margins have consistently above the national average, according to a RAND Corp. study last year.

The analysis last March suggested hospitals could break even with an average charge of 109% of Medicaid reimbursement rate.

Polis was joined Thursday by im Garcia, the CEO of Clinica Tepeyac; Dr. Stephanie Gold of the Farley Health Care Policy Center; and Hunter Railey, director of the Small Business Majority Colorado, as well as a cadre of Democratic lawmakers.

Railey said lowering insurance costs is critical for small businesses.

“Many of these employers work in critical industries, like child care, and others provide some of our favorite services, like food trucks,” he said. “We know burdensome health care costs are barriers to entrepreneurship, and policies such as these can help remove some of that barrier.”