DENVER (AP) — A health insurance proposal popular with business groups but not all conservatives survived important tests Tuesday in Colorado's Republican House.
The bill to create a health insurance marketplace in which individuals and small business can pool together for lower premiums has already cleared Colorado's Democratic Senate, but its prospects were less clear in the Republican House. Some Republicans argue that because the new federal health care law requires states to set up exchanges, states should resist the move.
The measure cleared a House committee after some tea party supporters urged lawmakers to reject the idea. Not long after, Republicans seized momentum and passed the measure on to approval by the full House. One more vote is required before the House and Senate can start work rectifying differences to send the bill to Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who supports the idea.
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House Republican Leader Amy Stephens, who co-sponsored the idea and has been sharply criticized by some conservatives, insisted Tuesday evening that the exchange will promote private competition.
Stephens predicted consumer-friendly companies competing for insurance spending and compared the plan to shopping online for airfare.
"You can compare online, like Travelocity or Kayak," she told the House.
The bill creates an exchange board and an oversight committee. The board would administer the exchange, with the power to set up financial plans, apply for grants and determine the size of the small employer market. The exchange would allow small groups to pool resources to buy health insurance. Only a handful of Republicans opposed the idea on a voice vote Tuesday evening.
"I'm just not comfortable with the direction it goes," said Republican Rep. Don Beezley.
In the committee, supporters tried to quell fears that a Colorado exchange is a step toward federal health care mandates. The mentioned that the exchange would not purchase insurance or set rates, be an agency of the state and there would be no mandate to buy health insurance. Carriers would not be required to provide insurance.
Bill Lindsay, who chaired a health care study group that recommended Colorado set up its own exchanges, said it's better for Colorado to come up with its own plan than wait for the federal government to come up with a plan.
"It's a Colorado solution to the questions and issues, and it's unique to Colorado," he said.
Supporters argue that states that don't set up exchanges will be assigned one by the federal government in future years and say Colorado should act now to craft its own exchange.
Kim Green, a founding member of a tea party action group, said it's simply a back door to federal health care because it will be funded with federal money, and with federal money comes federal restrictions.
"They have a blank check to do what they want with it," she said before the House Health & Environment Committee took up debate on the bill on Tuesday.
The federal health care law requires states to set up health insurance exchanges by 2013, or the federal government will set up exchanges for them.
Colorado is among states suing the federal government over parts of the health care law, and the measure would not affect that lawsuit.
After approving the health insurance exchange, the House approved a separate bill to opt out of the federal health care law and seek a compact with other states instead. That measure faces a more formal vote in the House and long odds in the Senate.
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Associated Press writer Kristen Wyatt contributed to this report.
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