Health Reform: Exchanges you can believe in? Not necessarily.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities authored a very good piece about how allowing multiple exchanges in the same area could actually hinder access to affordable, quality health care. This is further evidence that not all reform ideas are necessarily good ones. More reason for everyone to keep close tabs on what's going on with health reform

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Health Care Co-op No Substitute for Public Option

The health care reform debate in Washington often results in a lot of noise, a bit of hyperbole, and an overwhelming amount of information to digest—good or bad, accurate or not. A recent proposal by Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) is just such a case, an idea that seems good on its face, but in fact would not deliver the outcomes that some say.

Sen. Conrad proposed that health care cooperatives might be a good substitute for a public health insurance option. The Denver Post carried a story recently suggesting rural electric co-ops could serve as a model. However, this co-op model would not be an effective substitute for a public health insurance option for several reasons.

Read more here.

COFPI Testifies Before Fiscal Stability Commission

COFPI Senior Fiscal Analyst Carol Hedges testifed today before the Fiscal Stability Commission, where she provided some much needed context about Colorado's perpetual budget crisis. As lawmakers face the possibility of across-the-board cuts, Hedges also urged members of the commission to consider the revenue side of the ledger as the state looks to improve its fiscal standing and strengthen investments

"History shows that we cannot cut our way out of our perpetual budget crisis," Hedges said before the 16-member panel. Her testimony focused on the state's perpetual revenue problems, Colorado's poor rankings when compared to other states' investments in key areas, transparency issues, the lack of scrutiny around tax expenditures, the regressive nature of Colorado's tax system, and the need to reconcile what kind of Colorado we all want.

"A robust public sector is not the sole component of a robust economy, but we all know it is an important piece of the solution to our perpetual fiscal crisis," Hedges went on to say. "And while critics will surely bemoan the size of government, recall my earlier point that size is not the issue. Service is the issue. What kind of service are Coloradans getting from their government? What kind of investment are we making in our future? Will today's commitments improve our outlook or undermine our success?"

You can see her complete testimony as prepared here, as well as the data charts and state rankings that were provided to the commission.

Health Care Reform. Now.

CCLP Health Care Director Elisabeth Arenales makes a strong case in the Denver Daily News as to why we need health care reform now.