By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance
Several health-care bills — including two scheduled for their first hearings this week — are set to reignite the debate this legislative session on whether the benefits of greater coverage mandates are equal to the greater costs they’ll bring.
And it won’t be just insurance issues that will occupy legislators’ discussions on health care this year. Regulation of a federal drug-pricing program, Medicaid-generated budget problems and the fate of the state’s largest workers’ compensation insurer all are on the table, causing legislators to have to think deeply about why health-care spending is rising and what impacts they can have on businesses and consumers.
On Wednesday, a House committee will discuss a bill that seeks to require health benefits for behavioral health treatment be no less extensive than those for physical health care. And on Thursday, a Senate committee will debate for a third year in a row whether to study implementation of a single-payer health-care system in Colorado to replace the current system that Gov. Jared Polis and legislators have spent years regulating.