September 2010 - 1st half

As you will read below, I will have several opportunities to see you and hear your concerns in September. I hope you will choose to take advantage of at least one of them. I will host my monthly Legislative Coffee on the 1^st Thursday, as usual. My monthly town hall meeting is on September 25 (please note that this is not on the 3^rd Saturday as usual, but on the 4^th Saturday for this month only). I am adding one new special feature this month, office hours, where you can take the opportunity to visit the State Capitol and meet with me in my office.

 

Please come to my next Legislative Coffee this Thursday, September 2, 7:30 – 9:00 a.m. at Panera Bread, 7739 Wadsworth Blvd. I hold these informal meetings on the 1^st Thursday of each month throughout the year. Because I don’t have to rush off to the State Capitol from June through December, the coffees last a little longer than the ones during the session, so we have lots of time to chat about whatever topics you choose. 

 

Please note the changes for my next two Town Hall Meetings: The September meeting will be on September 25 (the 4^th Saturday) at the Susan Duncan YMCA, 6350 Eldridge Street in Arvada.   The October meeting will be on October 16, back to the 3^rd Saturday, but will be at the Arvada Library, 7525 W. 57^th Avenue .

If you would like to have a private meeting with me or you’d like an excuse to visit the State Capitol, make an appointment during my special office hours in September:

To schedule your meeting, use the phone number or e-mail address listed below. My office is Room 330, located on the 3^rd Floor of the Capitol on the west side.

These are some of the things I’ve been doing as your State Senator since my last newsletter:

 

At my Town Hall meeting on August 21, 2010, the speaker was Lorez Meinhold, the state director for the implementation of National Health Care Reform. Lorez presented an update on how the new bill passed last spring is being implemented. Lorez said that the 2400-page law is being reviewed to assure its full and appropriate implementation. She understands that it isn’t perfect or what some people expected, but she believes it does move us forward in providing health care for thousands more Coloradans. The bill has 4 main components:

1.      Coverage – About 500,000 additional Coloradans will have access to health care without needing to go to emergency rooms. Eligibility will be expanded to 133% of the federal poverty level (FPL), up from 100%. This will cover families with an annual income of up to $25,000. In addition, eligibility for access to subsidies on health insurance will be available for families earning up to 400% of FPL. Reimbursements and funding for primary care will increase, to pay for more providers in local communities and to have more “care coordinators” among medical facilities and providers.

2.      Cost Containment – The payment systems will be streamlined, and cost-reduction strategies will be put into place based on best practices in the health care field.

3.      Reduction of Fraud and Abuse – More oversight will occur to prevent fraud and abuse.

4.      Eliminate Rescissions – Insurance companies will no longer be able to deny payments on claims – which they call a “rescission” – if the treatment had originally been accepted. 

 

Colorado has already been working on the creation of a new high-risk pool for people who are denied insurance in the regular market; for information about this, go to https://www.gettinguscovered.org/. The state is in the process of developing healthcare exchanges – the exchanges are a new entity intended to create a more organized and competitive market for health insurance by offering a choice of plans, establishing common rules regarding the offering and pricing of insurance, and providing information to help consumers better understand the options available to them.

 

Lorez works with the Implementation Board, which consists of representatives from numerous state agencies, including the departments of Revenue, Regulatory Agencies, Human Services, Public Health and Environment, and Health Care Policy and Financing, as well as the Division of Insurance. The board will be holding public meetings around the state to engage stakeholders and be thoughtful about where our state’s priorities should be. For more information about the implementation, go to www.colorado.gov/healthreform.

 

I have been appointed as one of our state’s members of the Education Commission of the States (ECS). Therefore, I attended the annual ECS National Forum on Education Policy, held in Portland, Oregon, this year. The conference, titled “America Competes 2010,” covered a broad variety of education topics from early childhood through higher education and focused on current education issues such as Race to the Top, creating longitudinal data systems, teacher effectiveness, and college completion. Soon I will post on my website a blog with the key ideas and comments I took from the conference. ECS is an interstate compact created in 1965 to improve public education by facilitating the exchange of information, ideas, and experiences among state policymakers and education leaders. As a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, ECS creates opportunities to build partnerships, share information, and promote the development of policy based on available research and strategies. Forty-nine states, three territories, and the District of Columbia constitute the Commission's current membership. Each member state or territory is represented by 7 commissioners: the Governor and 6 other individuals, typically legislators, chief state school officers, state and local school board members, superintendents, higher education officials, and business leaders. The ECS staff, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, includes educators, policy analysts, communications and technology experts, researchers, and support staff. ECS is supported financially by a combination of state fees and contracts, sponsorships, and grants from foundations, corporations, and the federal government.