SB20-215 (Moreno & Donovan/Kennedy & McCluskie) Health Insurance Affordability Act

Originally Posted: June 5, 2020
Last Updated: June 19, 2020

Summary

This bill allows the state to pick up a federal fee on healthcare insurance providers set to expire at the end of this year. The state would use the revenue collected to do three key things through a state-run business (Enterprise fund):

  1. Fund the reinsurance program, which reduced premiums in the individual market by an average of 20 percent, and reduced rates in some rural areas by more than 30 percent.
  2. Create a “state wrap” of additional funding to increase purchasing power for people who receive tax credits for coverage so people are not negatively impacted by reinsurance, and help reduce the uninsured rate among families with incomes between 200 and 300 percent of poverty, which is the group that experiences the highest uninsured rate in the state.
  3. Fix the coverage glitches for people excluded from the Affordable Care Act (i.e. the people in the family glitch, Coloradans without proper documentation, and people with DACA.

Position

The Children’s Campaign strongly supports this bill. This bill benefits all Coloradans by stabilizing the health insurance market and helping families who lack health insurance coverage get covered.

Current Status

The Senate voted to concur with House amendments and repass the bill. The bill passed on a bipartisan vote of 21-12 and now heads to the governor’s desk for signature.

Previous Statuses


June 5, 2020

Erin Miller, our Vice President of Health Initiatives testified in support of the bill this week and it passed out of the Senate Finance committee on party lines. The bill now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee where it will be heard on Jun. 6th at 9am.

June 12, 2020

The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee and passed the full Senate, as amended, on second and third reading this week on a party-line vote with all 19 Democrats voting yes. Erin Miller, Vice President of Health Initiatives, testified in support of the bill in the House Finance Committee this week, where it passed 6-5.