It's rare for the Washington, D.C.-based Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, a national association representing the largest commercial insurance firms in the country, to heavily engage in state initiatives, but we’ve never before seen the calibrated assault that Colorado's Amendment 69 wages on the benefits — and indirectly, the property and casualty — market.
|Ballot initiative
This ballot initiative, also known as “ColoradoCare,” would create a single-payer health system in the state, and may dissolve the state's market for employer-provided benefits. The proposal would initially cost the state $25 billion, doubling the state budget and catapulting Colorado to the highest taxed state in the nation. And for all that, there is no clarity on the coverage options the entity would offer current recipients of employer plans.
Every Coloradan receiving employer coverage would lose their existing plan and their abilities to review benefit plan changes or override the probable tax increases to continue funding the regime. To make matters worse, it would make Coloradans guinea pigs to the decisions of a wildly powerful 21-person board that would dictate everything from benefit packages to provider networks and prescription plans. It’s a nearly all-out assault on individual freedom when it comes to personal health decisions.
|Eviscerate private workers' comp industry
On top of all this, it includes language — which isn't getting much attention in the media — that would also rid the market of workers’ compensation insurance. If passed, ColoradoCare would also encompass the workers’ compensation marketplace — eviscerating the private industry.
The workplace is a lot different today than it was more than 100 years ago when Workers' Compensation was developed...
The safety policies and procedures that are put in place by companies across Colorado to mitigate risk, avoid accidents and benefit consumers would all be jeopardized by Amendment 69. All Colorado residents would be subject to the single-payer system irrespective of the location of corporate headquarters. Its passage would have a detrimental effect on the risk mitigation strengths that the Workers’ Compensation market brings consumers.
Amendment 69's damage on the surface is pretty straight forward — it levies a massive tax increase on Coloradans and creates a dangerous institution putting their health decisions in the hands of a powerful few. But peel back the onion on the impact and the damage continues to unfold. Many property and casualty firms also have a benefits component, which will be affected. Wiping out the competitive market for insurance plans also eliminates the incentives that employers have to keep costs down.
|Wellness programs would disappear
In the health insurance space, that means that wellness programs, which have been increasing in popularity since passage of the Affordable Care Act, would go by the wayside. Popular Colorado brands such as Coors, Chipotle, L-3 Communications and Dish are all reporting successful results with their wellness efforts. And that's because employers that subsidize insurance premiums have a fundamental incentive to keep their workforce healthy and premium costs down.
Abolishing the market for Workers’ Compensation plans would have a similar effect. Consider all the safety policies and procedures implemented by companies across the state designed to avoid accidents and keep their insurance claims low. Those too would be jeopardized. One of the greatest strengths of the insurance market is the inherent risk mitigation strategies that come along with premium controls. Those strategies benefit consumers, and Amendment 69 puts them in danger.
|Fierce campaigns for and against
The Council trusts that Coloradans will make the right decision, but campaigns for and against Amendment 69 will be fierce. We’ve been fighting against attacks on employer benefits for years, and we’ve been fortunate enough to have won most of those battles. Its passage would be devastating for Colorado health plans, and we’re doing everything we can to defeat the measure. Don't be fooled — ColoradoCare is not just a Colorado problem.
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