Rural/Urban divide: healthcare. The “failed” Colorado Option. Live in or near Logan County and have an interest in land use policy?
Rural/Urban divide: healthcare.
A friend recently shared the essay below with me and I thought you might be interested as well.
It details the divide in healthcare between rural and urban areas. And a divide it is. When I first moved out here to the Plains, I carried my perspective from Denver with me.
I was, in other words, emblematic of what the author said:
"I think that television dramas have given people the perception that all hospitals have all things. I mean, when you need a heart transplant, you show up to the ER and they find it and put it in, right? Most people recognize (I hope) that such a situation is mere fiction. But other things we might expect just aren’t available once you’re 30 miles, 60 miles or more out of the city."
Indeed.
It is not uncommon for me to face the choice of driving a couple hours to the Front Range or waiting 4 to 6 weeks for the visiting specialist to come out here.
A trip to the emergency room in the middle of the night a while back took a long time because there is no doctor there. A doctor has to be called in.
It's a constant worry for me that some emergency will spring up such that I or a family member will need to go to Denver via helicopter, something that would wipe me out financially.* My local hospital simply can't do some things. Insurance is available for such things, but it ain't free.
While we're talking insurance, the coverage, the options are much more restricted than in urban areas.
My own case is pretty mild: there are no dentists out near me who are in network for my dental insurance. None.
So what you get for your dental insurance payment is an 80/20 split (I'm the 80) coinsurance. Services cost enough that it makes me wonder whether or not it is worth it to pay for dental at all. I keep it mainly for emergencies, but, again, at 80% coinsurance ....
Word has it that enough people with my plan near me raised enough Cain that the insurers are upping coverage, but I have yet to see it. Meantime, crack that wallet open and do it wide.
I don't know the details (and if you do, please add to this post in the comments--I want your voice out there to counter what we hear from those running this state), but I know I have it easy.
I've heard much worse about the rural single-payer market in this state. Stories of no coverage and high prices are not uncommon (and you have to buy insurance, thanks Obama!). Stories of few options for buying coverage even if you want it are not uncommon.**
Our system is in a mess. It's in a bigger mess for those in rural areas, and so far I'm not seeing much in the way of fixes coming from either party.
*I have told my wife (only half jokingly) that if something like this arises for me, send me by car. Esp if it's a judgment call.
**See the following post.
The “failed” Colorado Option.
In keeping with the theme of health insurance, check out the op ed below about the Colorado Option.
The Colorado Option was created in a 2021 bill (linked below the op ed) and it brought us closer to the dream of every progressive: government-run health insurance in Colorado.
It hasn't yet tripped over into that, but as far as it working as advertised, something that would increase options in the single-payer health insurance market in Colorado while lowering prices, it hasn't. It hasn't at all despite our governor repeatedly crowing about how he's saving us money.
Quoting the op ed:
"Three years later, we continue to see the state government-controlled health care option is having the opposite effect of what was promised. Health care premiums in the individual market have not gone down and many consumers have fewer options when choosing an insurance plan. In short, the Colorado Option has failed to solve our health care affordability problems — and in many ways, it’s actually made them worse."
And, in keeping with what readers have told me and/or added as comments when I discuss the topic, this is all the worse in rural areas.
The price mandates and coverage requirements in this failed policy have thus far resulted in only the shakiest of startups being attracted to the field. That is, only new companies with a higher tolerance for risk have dared to try and gnaw the scraps off the bone that the state's lawmakers left.
Guess what this has led to? It's led to a lot of those same companies folding up shop and leaving consumers without healthcare when it turns out that there really wasn't enough meat there to live on.
The op ed mentions a stakeholder meeting (I'm late enough in getting to this op ed that the meeting has likely long passed) and, quoting again, that "...they [the stakeholders and the Colorado Division of Insurance] should acknowledge the failure of the Colorado Option and begin to consider solutions that can make a real impact in the health insurance market. If we want to increase access to high-quality, affordable health care, we must build upon what’s working and set aside what’s not."
Agreed, although I won't hold my breath. I don't think it'll get scrapped, but I could be wrong.
The value here, as shown by experience, has not been for consumers. It's been a sop to the more progressive side of the Democrat base in this state; it's been a way to put off some of them clamoring for state run healtthcare.
Why would they abandon that for the sake of the people needing insurance in the single-payer market?
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/opinion/stakeholders-must-acknowledge-colorado-option-harms-affordability-opinion/article_5edee898-277e-11ef-9387-37e9081afb12.html#google_vignette
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb21-1232
Live in or near Logan County and have an interest in land use policy?
DOLA (Dept of Local Affairs) will be up in LoganCo to tour and have a meeting.
Their public meeting will be at 2:30 PM in the Logan County Courthouse (I don't know a room, but if you come, just ask when you get here).
State Senator Byron H. Pelton, who told me about the meeting, said that he didn't think there would be a chance to have public comment, but it might still be worth showing up if land use is a concern to you and you can make it.
Sometimes your physical presence is important. It communicates to the government that people are watching and concerned.
Plus, you never know if they will open the floor up or if a chance will present itself to speak to someone.
I hope to go. I live in LoganCo and am off for the summer. If you can make it, you should try as well.