Bill Summary for Bill Number SB06-011

Date: 01/19/2006

Final
BILL SUMMARY for SB06-011

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Adopt prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment D). Th Adopt prepared amendment L.002 (Attachment E). Th Refer Senate Bill 06-011, as amended, to the Commi	Pass Without Objection Pass Without Objection PASS

01:38 PM -- Senate Bill 06-011

Senator Tapia, bill sponsor, began his discussion of Senate Bill 06-011. He explained that the bill authorizes a study of health insurance rates in Pueblo county, and that the legislation is necessary because, for many years, health insurance rates in Pueblo have been higher than in the rest of the state. Senator Hagedorn distributed amendment L.003 to the committee (Attachment A). Senator Tapia stated that the bill that will allow citizens of Pueblo to have information regarding their health insurance rates.

01:43 PM -- Dr. Rita Shian, Pueblo Medical Society, testified in support of the bill. She stated that residents of Pueblo do not understand why their health insurance rates are higher than the rest of the state and that the study will help identify the cause of the disparity. She explained that providers at the Mental Health Institute at Pueblo are University of Colorado employees, and they have difficulty finding affordable health insurance.

01:45 PM -- Steve McNally, University of Colorado, testified that his responsibilities include providing health insurance benefits to University of Colorado employees. He stated that it is difficult to provide health insurance to the physicians at the Mental Health Institute at Pueblo. He testified in support of the bill.

01:47 PM -- Rod Slyhoff, Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, testified in support of the bill. He responded to questions from Senator Johnson regarding a previous study of health insurance costs conducted by the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Slyhoff stated that the chamber was not able to get necessary data from health insurance companies in order to complete the study.

01:51 PM -- Pam Hanes, Colorado Health Institute, testified in support of the bill. She stated that the Colorado Health Institute worked on the previous study of Pueblo health insurance costs, but that there was difficulty obtaining necessary data from several health plans. She responded to questions from Senator Johnson regarding the funding of the previous study, stating that a local foundation was funding the study. She stated that the Colorado Health Institute would fund the completion of the study outlined in Senate Bill 06-011 or find the resources to complete the study. She further responded to questions from the committee regarding the scope of the previous study.

01:57 PM -- Ralph Pollock, Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, testified in support of the bill.

01:58 PM -- Dr. Carl Bartecchi, Pueblo Physicians, distributed a handout to the committee (Attachment B). He stated that the problem of high health insurance rates in Pueblo is not new. He identified some factors which may contribute to the problem, including lack of health insurance companies in Pueblo and the number of persons in Pueblo who have chronic diseases, who are smokers, or who are elderly. He stated that Pueblo has been experiencing a loss of internal medicine specialists and, as a result, the remaining providers must see more patients and are less capable of caring for persons with more complicated illnesses. Senator Tapia discussed Pueblo's smoking ban.

02:06 PM -- Michael Huotari, Colorado Association of Health Plans, distributed a handout to the committee (Attachment C) and testified in support of the bill.

02:09 PM -- A.W. Schnellbacher, AARP, testified in support of the bill, stating that AARP supports community rating and they were pleased to see that community rating was one aspect the study would address.

02:11 PM

Senator Tapia gave concluding remarks regarding the bill and distributed two amendments, L.001 (Attachment D) and L.002 (Attachment E), to the committee.


BILL:	SB06-011
TIME:	02:12:16 PM
MOVED:	Hagedorn
MOTION:	Adopt prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment D). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Johnson
	Mitchell
	Sandoval
	Shaffer
	Traylor
	Hanna
	Hagedorn
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	SB06-011
TIME:	02:12:27 PM
MOVED:	Hagedorn
MOTION:	Adopt prepared amendment L.002 (Attachment E). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Johnson
	Mitchell
	Sandoval
	Shaffer
	Traylor
	Hanna
	Hagedorn
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection

02:13 PM

Senator Hagedorn announced that amendment L.003 (Attachment A) would not be offered.


BILL:	SB06-011
TIME:	02:14:51 PM
MOVED:	Hagedorn
MOTION:	Refer Senate Bill 06-011, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed 7-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Johnson	Yes
	Mitchell	Yes
	Sandoval	Yes
	Shaffer	Yes
	Traylor	Yes
	Hanna	Yes
	Hagedorn	Yes
Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS