Why Pay More? Simple Insurance Reform Would Save Coloradans Millions
With simple changes to Colorado’s archaic health insurance regulations, state legislators could save an average family of four almost half a million dollars in health care costs.
Health insurance policies with higher deductibles offer people the chance to combine relatively inexpensive higher deductible health insurance policies with federally authorized medical savings accounts that would be accepted by preferred provider organizations (MSA PPOs).
The Perils of Publicly-Subsidized Private Piggy Banks
Three separate incidents in the last month have shown that some people have no qualms about using other peoples businesses as their own private piggy banks.
In Denver, officials think that some families of four with an income of $51,000 deserve subsidized housing. Rather than build subsidized housing with general tax revenues, they plan to tax new homeowners by requiring that developers either include affordable units in their projects or pay a $150,000 fee for every housing unit built.[1]
Health Care For The Mentally Ill
Transcript of a speech delivered by Linda Gorman at Putting Patients First, a health care symposium held Aug. 29th, 2001 in Evergreen, Colorado and sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Center for Health Care Policy, an affiliate of the Independence Institute.
Im here to tell you, since were quoting P.J. ORourke right now, he said that Giving more money to government was like giving teenage boys whiskey and car keys. And even though you work as hard as you can to make government programs work, there are certain reasons why they will not work no matter how you work, so were going to get a little lesson this morning in public choice economics.
Paying Twice for Government Health Care
The special legislative session scheduled for September 20th vividly illustrates the disordered priorities that have resulted from the politicization of health care. According to a July press release from the governor’s office, Governor Owens wants to divert $1.6 million from the Tobacco Settlement Fund’s Cessation and Research Programs to “help optimize services to approximately 50 women diagnosed each year through the early detection program who currently may have to wait for potential life-saving treatment.” In the political calculus, breast cancer victims deserve tax-funded treatment. No word about treating the low-income men and women dying from other kinds of disease.
The 2001-2002 Appropriations Report from the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee shows that the state’s operating budget is $13,030,000,000, roughly $4,300,000,000 of which is already slated for human services and health care spending. In 2000, Colorado’s population was 4,301,261. This means that every year every man, woman, and child in the state already writes a check for $1,000 to pay for helping those the state considers unable to help themselves.
Treatment Denied: Colorado Health Care "Reform" and the Mentally Ill
Colorado health care “reformers” usually claim that government control of health care raises quality and lowers cost. In fact, government involvement does just the opposite. For proof, one need look no further than the way the state Medicaid programs treat the severely mentally ill.
Government Health Care: When Only Money Matters
Colorado health care “reformers” usually claim that government control of health care raises quality and lowers cost. In fact, government involvement does just the opposite. For proof, one need look no further than the way the state Medicaid programs treat the severely mentally ill.
Immunization Exemption Protects Children
Last December, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a paper on how well measles and pertussis vaccines protect Colorado children from disease. Unsurprisingly, it concluded that unvaccinated children were more likely to contract measles and whooping cough than vaccinated ones. It also reported that schools with more unvaccinated children are more likely to have outbreaks of these diseases.
Coloradans Can't Afford The 'Prescription Drug Fair Pricing Act'
House Bill 01-1108. Prescription Drug Fair Pricing Act. Creates a new state health insurance program that is not means tested. Makes the state a prescription drug wholesaler, politicizes prescription drug pricing, creates a new bureaucracy to act as a commercial middleman, gives the state full access to retail pharmacy business records, puts small bio-tech firms at risk by creating a new category of business crimes.
Colo. survey finds it pays to shop for prescription prices
Fort Collins The Coloradoan (August 2000) Author: Sally Bridges PDF of full Paper Scribd version of full Paper As George W. Bush and Al Gorge try to sell voters on their prescription drug plans, local researchers are warning seniors not to but it. Their message is simple: If you want to save money on your prescription […]
Everything is a Gun Show
When you hear gun show do you think of a father who wants to give his son a gift by letting him choose a gun from his collection? How about a widow who pulls her husbands guns out of the closet and lets her children take their pick? According to SAFE Colorado, these activities are gun shows if twenty-five or more firearms are displayed. Firearms are any handgun, automatic revolver, pistol, rifle, shotgun, or other instrument or device capable or intended to be capable of discharging bullets, cartridges, or other explosive charges.
WAAKE-UP! and Feel Better–Throw the Poor Out of Work
What do the people in the WAAKE-UP! coalition have against the poor? And why are they so intent on forcing the University of Colorado to act like the worst kind of imperialist?
WAAKE-UP!, a coalition of everything from the Rain Forest Action Group to the AFL-CIO,[1] wants the University to adopt its Code of Conduct for determining who may and may not manufacture licensed CU apparel. The model Code, as posted on the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) web page, imposes the agenda of wealthy Americans unions on poverty stricken workers in other countries.[2] It is a central planners dream.
Against Everything, For What?
Over the last forty years, those who like to throw bricks through windows and blueberry pies in peoples faces for The Cause have been on the wrong side of one issue after another. Who can forget the unilateral disarmament devotees throwing themselves in front of moving trains in an effort to appease the Soviet Union? They wanted to the U.S. to take its missiles out of Europe. Had they had their way, the U.S. and Europe would have disarmed, leaving the Soviet Union to menace the world.
