Tripping over your own earlier hospital fees. Are we "over-colleged"? The long-awaited semiautomatic gun ban gets a committee hearing (tomorrow Wed 3/29).
When the "DO SOMETHING" crowd puts you in an awkward position, alternatively, crafting policy by talking point.
In an effort to make healthcare more affordable, lawmakers are going after hospitals' use of Facility Fees (one of the manifold charges you get when you go to a hospital or sometimes even get care at a hospital-affiliated outpatient facility).
See the Sun article linked first below and the bill link I excerpted out for you.
Believe me when I tell you that I do not believe our health care system and how we pay for it is functioning well. Nor am I a fan of hospitals: there are a whole host of reasons, and not all of the condonable in my view, for the outrageous charges you get on hospital bills.
The thing about making policy by mindlessly doing something, by returning to the tried-and-true Progressive exploitation of social antagonisms, however, is that you may run up against reality.
You may run up against the fact that if you reduce revenue somewhere, that shortfall (unless you intend to reduce services) will have to be made up.
That is the gist of the problem outlined in the article and that is the issue with this bill. Hospitals help fund care for the indigent in this state and removing some of their revenue will likely leave a shortfall.
The Sun article below is a lengthy one but I would urge you to give it a read and some thought. In particular, I urge you to pay attention to the part at the end where consumer advocates give some pushback on the idea that this bill would be doomsday.
I think that it is likely that there is some threat inflation here by the hospital industry, but I question how much of it is threat inflation and how much.
Magnitude of it aside too, I marvel at the kind of thinking that figures you can get something for nothing.
https://coloradosun.com/2023/03/15/colorado-hospital-costs-provider-fee-medicaid/
Are we "over-colleged"?
I think back to (and this has been going on since I was a kid) into college, I think about how much government money has flowed into higher education, and then I read articles like the below and I can't help but ask myself if we're not "over colleged" as a nation.
What I mean is, do we have more colleges than students now and are we going to have a market contraction?
I can't help but think that perhaps we are.
There are numerous causes to the financial problems that I think a lot of colleges are facing right now, but I can't help but think that we are in a state of having more college classes and institutions than we have kids.
What do you think? Feel free to add to the comments section if you would like.
One last niblet: I cannot pass up an opportunity to plug trade school or apprenticeships here because we are definitely underserved in this area.
If you want more information, check your local community college or message me for ideas.
https://www.cpr.org/2023/03/14/cu-denver-budget-cuts/
Well, it's here. I didn't think it would get to a hearing, but the Assembly Democrats must've been encouraged by their recent work and so the semiautomatic gun ban (oops, sorry, they're calling it an "assault weapons" ban) is coming up for a committee hearing.
It comes up tomorrow (Wed 3/29) at 1:30 PM. See the screenshot or the bill below.
More bad legislation. More chipping away at your rights until there's not much left.
Given how the others have gone recently, I don't imagine the Progressive Democrats running this state will brook much dissent on it. I also wonder how much amending they'll be open to.
If you're not able to testify as I'm not, I encourage you to follow me and donate some money to one of the many organizations that will be fighting this gigantic grab for your Constitutional rights.
I've posted about my preferred group (cssa.org), but there are others. If you're aware of a group that would put money to good use, please feel free to add to the comments.
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb23-1230