Dan Pilcher

CACI Senior Vice President

& Chief Operating Officer

E-Mail: dpilcher@COchamber.com

www.COchamber.com

Friday, June 3, 2011

Governor Signs Business-Supported Health-Benefits Exchange Bill

On Wednesday at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood, Governor John Hickenlooper signed into law SB-200, which will create the Colorado Health Benefits Exchange.  SB-200 was sponsored by Senator Betty Boyd (D- Lakewood) and Representative Amy Stephens (R-Monument).

The new law will create a business-friendly Exchange designed to provide greater access to affordable health insurance for workers while promoting a competitive marketplace that protects private-sector jobs in the health-care industry.

In prepared remarks for the bill signing ceremony, the Governor said, “This legislation moves Colorado forward with one voice.  The health exchange will allow individuals and small businesses to choose among easy-to-compare affordable health care options. It will give Coloradans more control, quality choices and better protections when buying insurance. We are grateful to the bill’s sponsors, Senator Betty Boyd and Representative Amy Stephens, and various interest groups for working through partisan politics to do what’s right for all of Colorado.”

Reporter Patrick Malone of The Pueblo Chieftain covered the SB-200 bill-signing ceremony.

The Governor’s Office issued a press release about the bill signing.

CACI and four other major business organizations—the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, NFIB, Colorado Concern and the Colorado Competitive Council—worked with the sponsors to ensure that the concerns of the business community were addressed in the bill, specifically to create a bill that provides greater access to affordable care, while promoting a competitive marketplace that protects private industry jobs, and provides employers with additional affordable choices when considering health benefits for workers. 

The new law contains the following provisions:

·         Creates the Colorado Health Benefit Exchange under Title 10 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, which puts the Exchange under the authority of the Colorado Commissioner of Insurance;

·         Establishes a Governing Board and creates appointment procedures for the Board;

·         Outlines the duties of the Board;

·         Creates a Legislative Health Benefit Exchange Implementation Review Committee with oversight over all Exchange Board recommendations, including funding, grant approvals, and appointment of the Executive Director;

·         Requires legislative audit of all moneys received by the Exchange; and

·         Requires a post-enactment review five years after enactment of the Act by a legislative service agency.

In addition, the following provisions are important to CACI members as purchasers of health insurance:

·         The Exchange is prohibited from duplicating or replacing the functions of the Colorado Division of Insurance, including rate approval.

·         The Exchange is required to foster a competitive marketplace for insurance products.

·         The Exchange is prohibited from engaging in active purchasing of insurance products.

·         The Exchange is prohibited from promulgating rules.

For more information about SB-200, contact Dan Anglin, CACI Governmental Affairs Representative at 303.866.9641 or via e-mail.

Applications for Health Benefits Exchange Board Being Accepted by Governor’s Office

The Governor’s Office recently issued a news release, seeking applications from the private sector for the new Health Benefits Exchange Board.  Here’s the text of the release:

Wednesday, May 11, 2011-- Gov. John Hickenlooper announced today the Office of Boards and Commissions is accepting applications for appointments to the Colorado Health Benefits Exchange Board through Monday, May 23.

The Colorado Health Benefits Exchange Board will have nine members, with the Governor appointing five members and the House and Senate appointing the other four. The majority of the board members will be individuals and business representatives who are not directly affiliated with the insurance industry.

Each person appointed to the board should have demonstrated expertise in two or more of the following areas: (a) individual health insurance coverage; (b) small business health insurance coverage; (c) health benefits administration; (d) health care finance; (e) administering a public or private health care delivery system; (f) purchasing health insurance coverage; (g) health care consumer navigation or assistance; (h) health care economics or health care actuarial sciences; (i) information technology; (j) starting a small business with 50 or fewer employees; and (k) expert in the provision of health care service.

Interested candidates must fill out a Boards and Commissions application, attach a resume, and in a one page cover letter address his or her expertise and why they want to serve on the board. For more information on Boards and Commissions, click here or e-mail.

CACI and other major business organizations strongly supported SB-200, which will create the business-friendly Colorado Health Benefits Exchange designed to provide greater access to affordable health insurance for workers while promoting a competitive marketplace that protects private-sector jobs in the health-care industry.

Governor Signs into Law Bill to Restore Solvency to State Unemployment Trust Fund

On Thursday, May 26^th, the Governor signed HB-1288 into law on the West Steps of the State Capitol at a bill-signing ceremony in which Loren Furman, CACI Governmental Affairs Vice President, participated along with representatives of other business organizations.

HB-1288 will gradually reform the insolvent Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, indebted to the Federal Government for $530 million, in a way that protects employers from unexpected, steep premium hikes.

CACI strongly supported HB-1288, which was the result of a task force, convened last year by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), which worked for many months to study the problems of the UI system and develop recommendations for legislation.

The members of the taskforce included CACI, the Colorado Competitive Council, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), the AFL-CIO, The Fiscal Policy Institute and CDLE staff.  Loren Furman served on the CDLE task force.

The Senate sponsor of HB-1288 was Senate Majority Leader John Morse (D-Colorado Springs).  The bill’s co-sponsors in the House were Representative Larry Liston (R-Colorado Springs) and Representative Dan Pabon (D-Denver).

The primary goals of HB-1288 are two-fold:

1.     Repay the Federal loan before federally mandated penalties against Colorado federal UI rates (FUTA) begin and rebuild a necessary fund balance before the next economic down-turn without harming employers’ ability to recover from the recent recession and increase jobs.

2.     Construct a new UITF rate chart that reflects and grows with the size of the Colorado economy to provide adequate Fund reserves, that has less volatility and is simpler to administer, and reflects sound pooled-insurance principles for shared risk and non-charged benefits.

CACI lobbied to include in the bill provisions that would insure that would prevent abuse of the UI benefit system by claimants.  Loren detailed this concern in her prepared remarks for her testimony on March 31^st before the House Economic and Business Development Committee:

Several weeks ago, I spoke to the CACI Board of Directors about this bill, and, instead of getting the general consensus that I expected, I actually received very clear marching orders on additions that needed to be included in the bill.  Our Board members said loud and clear that, if employers were going to help make changes to the funding system, then they also need to see more accountability on the part of the Department.  Our Board asked for the language that would address the problem of overpayments to someone after they’ve already received a job and also reinforce efforts to prevent fraudulent claims.

What we learned about fraud and overpayments is that the Department has paid approx $1 million annually in mistaken overpayments.   There’s approximately $2 million in fraudulent claims committed.  Although these may not sound like a huge fiscal impact, when we have a trust fund that is broke, we really need to be diligent in preventing these kinds of mistakes.

So what you see in this bill addresses those important issues: 

·         The bill requires the Department to enter into agreements with Federal agencies that monitor income or wage verification so that we know exactly when someone has received a new job and that additional UI payments aren’t sent to that person.

·         The bill also requires that the Department include in their report to the legislature how much in overpayments have been paid.

·         The bill also says that, if by reason of fraud, mistake or error, there is an overpayment to a claimant, then the employer’s account will be credited by that amount.

·         The bill clarifies the penalties for claiming benefits if someone has fraudulently represented themselves or if they willfully failed to disclose that they should not have received benefits.  The penalties are that the person is required to pay the total amount of the overpayment plus a penalty of fifty percent of that overpayment.   

We believe these provisions are critical pieces to this bill, and they will help prevent those who should not receive benefits from getting them.

CACI Annual Golf Tournament Presented by Apokalyyis, Inc.

NOTE:  Last Friday, 124 golfers who are CACI members and guests, participated in the CACI Annual Golf Tournament.  The following was written by Tricia Smith, CACI Vice President of Events and Political Fundraising:

To our valued sponsors, members, and friends,

On behalf of the entire CACI Staff, thank you so much for your support and participation in the 2011 CACI Annual Golf Tournament Presented by Apokalyyis, Inc.  Besides the wind, it was the perfect day at the beautiful BroAdmoor Golf Club and a successful day overall.

Thank you to the following sponsors for making the tournament possible:

Presenting Tournament Sponsor

Silver Corporate Hole Sponsors

• American Medical Response

• AngloGold Ashanti N.A.

• CenturyLink

• Encana Oil and Gas

• HealthTrans

• Herron Enterprises USA, Inc.

• Pinnacol Assurance

• Roche Colorado Corporation

• Southwest Airlines

• Suncor Energy

• Tri-State Generation and Transmission

• Wells Fargo

• Xcel Energy

Bronze Driving Range Sponsor

Advance America

Hole-in-One Sponsor

Keller-Lowry

And thanks to the following companies for their generous donations that enhanced the Awards Ceremony and golfer-goodie bags: