Forty-five years ago this week: “I see Gov. (Richard) Lamm is fairly popular in general,” said gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Bill Hughes, R-Colorado Springs. “ … And he’ll be hard to beat.”

Hughes was on a whirlwind campaign trail tour, visiting many counties on the Western and Eastern slopes. In Las Animas County, 5% of the total registered Republicans attended a picnic where he was the guest.

Hughes had launched his campaign the previous November and could feel the pulse quickening. Yes, Hughes said, Lamm was popular, but he wasn’t going to throw the race. 

While Hughes’s name recognition had risen a lot among Republicans, it wasn’t so with the general public. The candidate stated that he had raised only $7,000 so far, but anticipated that the number would rise when people began picking up his campaign newspaper and the $10 contributions would come flooding in.

Hughes’s campaign was completely voluntary, he said, adding that he would hire a campaign manager in September or October. But counties would rely heavily on their local organizations, he said. 

Hughes had attracted 500 volunteers to his campaign, but he said he hoped that number would increase tenfold to 5,000 as quickly as possible.

“I envision a primary,” Hughes said, “but I can’t name the others on the ballot because I haven’t seen much action yet from the other candidates who are after Lamm’s job.”

After putting 30,000 miles on his car, Hughes said he was really pleased with the way his campaign was shaping up.

“I’m getting good, good vibes,” Hughes said and things are going really well.”

Twenty-five years ago: Several significant healthcare bills had been passed during the legislative session, but one in particular would go a long way in loosening restrictions on insurance companies serving rural areas and small towns.

Senate Bill 01-224 would alleviate the difficulties that small towns and rural areas had in retaining the services of good doctors and would ease the restrictions of HMOs in covering more doctors within their service provider network.

But not everyone was convinced the legislation was a be-all solution, not even the bill’s biggest sponsor.

“I don’t think this is going to solve the rural healthcare problem,” said House Majority Leader Rep. Lola Spradley, R-Beulah, one of the bill’s sponsors. “But it is a step in the right direction. It’s difficult to contract doctors at a reasonable rate, or even to get them at all. This bill allows some flexibility for having an adequate network so they can offer policies to consumers. Insurance companies are simply not writing policies in rural Colorado.”

Spradley said the bill would allow insurance companies to expand provider lists as well as telemedicine. By combination of both, Spradley said that rural Coloradans would have a better chance at getting the healthcare they needed and still be covered by insurance.

“If there is not an oncologist in Lamar, the insurance companies can refer you to somewhere else that has an oncologist that is still within their network,” Spradley said. “By expanding, companies can still meet their cost requirements and still be able to offer reasonable rates. That’s the biggest thing this bill has done.”

A further mandate in the bill was the creation of a healthcare task force to examine rural issues in greater detail. The task force would be chaired by Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden, who was also one of SB-224’s sponsors.

“I went to Glenwood in April and got an earful of what’s going on in rural areas as far as network provider adequacy,” Fitz-Gerald said. “Included were issues like contracts, what are the choices of insurance and the price of premiums — what is affordable — and what should legislators be doing to alleviate some of the issues in rural healthcare. It’s in everybody’s best interest to see that the insurance industry is not on the backs of consumers and providers.”

Rachael Wright is the author of several novels, including The Twins of Strathnaver, with degrees in political science and history from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing columnist to Colorado Politics, the Colorado Springs Gazette, and the Denver Gazette.