Kefalas Bill To Authorize Study of Single-Payer Health Care System in State Gets Committee Exam Today

A bill that would create a privately-funded review commission to study how a publicly-funded and privately-managed single-payer health system would work in Colorado was approved this evening by a House committee.

HB 1273, which is sponsored by Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, would not create a single-payer health system. The measure does, however, include a schedule under which the legislature would consider whether to create such a delivery system in the state.

“Our objective is to create a more streamlined system that focuses on better-value, quality health care,” Kefalas said. “Almost 800,000 folks in Colorado are uninsured. We have to do better. The Health Care Authority will look for 21st century solutions. Right now, our medical industry is drowning in paperwork. Energy and resources are being wasted on inefficiencies when they ought to be directed toward building a healthy, insured Colorado workforce.”

If the bill becomes law, and the study commission it creates is formed, adequately financed, and prepares its report on time, the General Assembly would take up the question of establishing a single-payer health care system in 2011.

The commission would be made up of 23 members. It would explore how a single-payer system not managed or controlled by the state government would work and how, if the state is not paying for health care services on behalf of Colorado residents, the system could be financed.

The proposed Colorado Health Care Authority would have to raise funds privately to pay for its work. If enough funds were not raised by July 1, 2011, the work of the commission would end.

The cost of the commission's work is estimated to be about $1.4 million.

A commission established in 2007 by Gov. Bill Ritter, which also studied health care delivery in the state, said that a single-payer health care system merited further study but did not include it in a list of recommendations for reform Because members concluded existing federal law does not permit a state to adopt a single-payer delivery system.

A report issued by the Colorado Health Institute in 2006 said that 17 percent of the state's residents do not have health insurance.

The House Business Affairs & Labor Committee sent the bill to the House Appropriations Committee on a 5-4 vote.

With the exceptions of Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, and Rep. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs, who were absent, all of the committee's Democrats supported the bill and all of the panel's GOP members opposed it.

Ritter Signs Breastfeeding at Work, Textbook Bills

Gov. Bill Ritter signed Monday a bill that requires employers to provide time and space for nursing mothers to breastfeed or pump milk.

HB 1276 says that an employer cannot meet the requirement by forcing an employee to use a toilet stall. It also requires an employee who believes she has not been accommodated to submit to mediation before suing her employer.

The "Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act" was sponsored by Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, and Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne.

Today the governor signed a bill that will force textbook publishers to "unbundle" CDs and DVDs from textbooks, disclose revisions from prior editions of textbooks, and publicly disclose the textbook prices.

SB 73, sponsored by Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, and Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, was lauded by the governor as a pro-consumer measure.

"This is a consumer right-to-know bill for students and educators alike,” Ritter said. “It represents an important step toward transparency and will help students and their families plan their budgets. Textbooks cost students hundreds of dollars a semester, and with two students in college myself, I know that every dollar counts.”

College Textbook Affordability Act Heads to Ritter's Desk

The Senate approved Friday an amended version of SB 73, the proposed "College Textbook Affordability Act," and sent the bill to Gov. Ritter.

The bill aims to ensure that students are provided with more information about the textbooks required in classes, in order to be able to compare previous editions with the current edition specified by the course instructor, and prevents publishers from requiring that textbooks be purchased in a bundle with other media items such as DVDs.

To accomplish the information objective, the bill requires textbook publishers to post on their websites the prices of textbooks, history of substantive revisions to textbooks, and estimated length of time the publisher intends to keep such textbooks on the market.

The Senate sponsor is Democrat Ron Tupa of Boulder. The measure was sponsored in the House by Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins.

There was no opposition to passage of the amended bill by the Senate Friday.

Senate Passes "Textbook Affordability Act"

The Senate gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that would require the state's colleges to provide students information about the price of required textbooks and the amount of time expected to go by before the publisher revises the textbook.

SB 73 was approved on a 31-4 vote, with Republicans Bill Cadman of Colorado Springs, Nancy Spence of Centennial, and Tom Wiens of Castle Rock and Democrat Suzanne Williams of Aurora opposing it.

The measure now moves over to the House, where it is sponsored by Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins.

The Senate sponsor is Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder.

Committee Okays Cheap Textbooks Bill

The Senate Education Committee unanimously approved Thursday a bill that would require textbook publishers to disclose the price of textbooks to professors before the professor designates the books as required learning materials in college courses.

SB 73, which is sponsored by Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, and Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, was approved after a group of students from colleges up and down the Front Range spoke in support of it. Among those testifying in favor of the bill was Gov. Bill Ritter's son, August. The students reported paying between $600 and $700 per semester for textbooks.

The bill now goes to the House floor.