Four plans selected as finalists by the Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform would move the state "to near-universal coverage by about 2010," the Denver Rocky Mountain News reports. The state Legislature and governor appointed members of the commission, which seeks to recommend three to five plans to expand health insurance to more state residents without a large increase in costs.

Thirty-one plans were submitted (Scanlon, Denver Rocky Mountain News, 5/22). Two of the final plans, proposed by the Colorado State Association for Health Underwriters and the Committee for Colorado Health Solutions, would require all state residents to obtain health insurance. Under the plans, the state would provide subsidies to residents who cannot afford to obtain health insurance. A third plan proposed by the Health Care for All Colorado Coalition would establish a single-payer health care system administered by the state, and a fourth plan proposed by the Service Employees International Union would expand state health insurance programs and establish a large health insurance purchasing pool (Auge, Denver Post, 5/22).

Commission Chair Bill Lindsay said that the Lewin Group will study the costs and benefits of the four plans, as well as a fifth plan that the commission might submit, and determine the number of state residents who would remain uninsured under each proposal. About 770,000 state residents lack health insurance. The commission must submit a final report, which likely will include a recommendation on a plan, to the state Legislature by January 2008 (Denver Rocky Mountain News, 5/22). Any plan enacted by the state Legislature that would implement a tax increase would require approval by voters, Lindsay said.

Comments
"Our primary goal is to increase access to health care for all Coloradans," Lindsay said, adding. "There may be a significant price tag. That is a concern" (Denver Post, 5/22). Lin Zen-ser of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine said that the four plans selected by the commission would "take away the freedoms of individuals and doctors." Commission member Lisa Gorman of the Independence Institute also said that she opposes the four plans (Denver Rocky Mountain News, 5/22).