Danny Katz
Executive Director, CoPIRG
Executive Director, CoPIRG
CoPIRG
Denver, CO – Consumers and small businesses in Colorado will face significantly higher insurance premiums and could see costly coverage denials and price discrimination if efforts to repeal the federal health care law prevail in Congress or in the courts, according to The Cost of Repeal: Examining the Impact on Colorado of Repealing the New Federal Health Care Law, a new report released today by CoPIRG.
According to the report, in the short term, repeal would strip tax credits from 82,400 Colorado small businesses. And over the longer term, the cost of offering employer-based health insurance could jump by more than $3000 a year over current law.
“In today’s economy, the higher costs that would result from repeal are the last thing that Colorado consumers and businesses need,” said Danny Katz, the Director of CoPIRG.
The new CoPIRG report draws on data from independent sources, including the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, other government agencies, business groups and health analysts, and finds the following:
The House is expected to consider a repeal bill later this week. And Washington’s intensely partisan debate over health care threatens to spill over to Denver as the Governor and state legislators consider key implementation decisions.
The Cost of Repeal recommends a set of pro-active policy changes on which supporters and opponents of last year’s health care law should be able to find common ground. These include:
“Before our elected officials join this headlong rush to repeal in Washington, they should consider the consequences for our state, and look for solutions that hold down costs, not increase them,” said Katz.