health insurance
-
The case of the $489,000 air ambulance ride from Colorado to North Carolina
Sean Deines and his wife, Rebekah, were road-tripping after he lost his job as a bartender when the pandemic hit. But while visiting his grandfather in a remote part of Wyoming, Sean started to feel very ill. Rebekah insisted he go to an urgent care center in Laramie. “‘Your white blood count is through the…
-
Enrollment on Colorado insurance marketplace jumps 14% compared to last November
More than 50,500 Coloradans signed up for health insurance via the Connect for Health Colorado marketplace through Monday, a 14% increase from the same period last year. Division of Insurance cancels part of federal waiver on Colorado Option that critics called price-fixing Open enrollment began Nov. 1 and will close Jan. 15. Three-quarters of applicants…
-
COVID-19 community test site to reopen in Aurora
A little over two weeks after a COVID-19 testing site was closed in Aurora, officials say they are reopening as the state’s overall numbers continue to rise. The community testing site will return to its previous location at the Aurora Sports Park at 19300 E. Colfax Ave. on Monday, and will operate from 8 a.m.…
-
Warning signs belie low uninsured rate across Colorado
The ever-increasing cost of health care – and increasingly skimpy insurance plans – are threatening to undo progress made under the Affordable Care Act in helping people access care and pay for it, a comprehensive biennial survey has found. Colorado’s uninsured rate held steady this year at 6.5%, according to the 2019 Colorado Health Access…
-
Health insurance enrollments in Colorado up slightly for 2019
Health insurance enrollments through Colorado’s exchange ended slightly up compared with last year, led by a rush of people seeking federal tax credits to ease their monthly insurance premiums. Across Colorado, 169,672 people signed up for health insurance through Connect for Health Colorado during the most recent 2½-month open enrollment period, which ended Tuesday. That…
-
BEST OF COPO 2018 | High health insurance prices mean ill winds in Colorado’s high country
Colorado Politics is taking a look back at some of our most significant and compelling stories of 2018. This story originally was published Nov. 1. EAGLE — This is the time of year that businesswoman Janet Jordan dreads: Open enrollment on the individual and small-group health-insurance markets and the inevitably of rising prices on Colorado’s…
-
COVER STORY | High health insurance prices mean ill winds in Colorado’s high country
EAGLE — This is the time of year that businesswoman Janet Jordan dreads: Open enrollment on the individual and small-group health-insurance markets and the inevitably of rising prices on Colorado’s Obamacare insurance exchange. “Every year when I go through this, I have employees expressing anger and upset and spouses expressing anger and upset,” Jordan said.…
-
Could laws like one in Colo. reduce medical costs? A US Senate committee aims to find out
WASHINGTON – A U.S. Senate committee held a hearing Tuesday to decide whether laws like a new one in Colorado that requires health care price transparency could bring down medical costs. Proposals the Senate is considering would require doctors and hospitals to post their prices for common procedures on the internet. As health insurance prices…
-
Senate searches for ways to reduce health care administrative costs
WASHINGTON – Health care officials at a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday advocated methods to reduce the industry’s administrative expenses in ways similar to those proposed by Colorado Democrats. Administrative burdens from insurers and government regulators commonly represent 8 percent of patients’ bills, according to the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.…
-
Urge lawmakers to put a stop to non-medical switching now
Isn’t it logical that health care should be about improving a patient’s health? “Non-medical switching” is a heartbreaking example of when it isn’t. It is the term used to describe how patients, oftentimes with chronic illnesses, are forced by their insurance plan to take less expensive medications that, studies show, are often less effective. It…