The “Colorado Option” left me high and dry without health insurance, again

A decade ago, the prestigious PolitiFact Lie of the Year went to President Barack Obama’s assurance “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it” under the Affordable Care Act. This year, I was not able to keep the plans I liked, not once but twice. Bright Health, Humana, Oscar Health, and Friday Health Plans recently packed up and left the state, leaving about 218,800 of us scrabbling to obtain another health insurance plan on the state exchange.

Two years after the General Assembly passed the Colorado Option, House Bill 1232, we have four fewer health insurance options. Coincidence? Hardly. Lawmakers thought they could defy a basic law of economics and get away with it. Government price fixing causes shortages. We don’t need to bust out a supply and demand curve graph or look at pictures of Soviet bread lines to understand the lesson. When the government demands more for less, we get less.

Under the diminishing Options law, health insurers in small group and individual markets must offer a Colorado Option plan that conforms to price and coverage mandates determined by the legislature and the Colorado Commissioner of Insurance. Beginning in 2023, Option plans must be priced 5% below the company’s 2021 plans adjusted for inflation. The next year, the companies must offer a plan that is priced 10% lower than the 2021 rate. For 2025, plans must be priced at 15% below 2021 prices. Plans must also cover more services than traditional plans. You don’t need to take a high school economics course to see why this law is not sustainable.

Not surprisingly, all but one insurance company did not hit targets for 2024. Explaining why it did not meet the state mandate, Kaiser Permanente explained in its filing documents: “[T]he premium reduction targets cannot, and do not, take into account all factors” such as unprecedented inflation, rising prescription drug costs, worsening morbidity in the small group market, ongoing COVID impacts, costly benefit requirements, and other factors.”

If a large insurance company known for its efficiency cannot meet 2024 targets, what are the odds it will attain an even higher threshold the following year? Odds are good that more insurance companies will leave the state as long as the law stands.

If one cannot buy health insurance because there are no plans available, that’s saving money, right? The governor’s promise to save Coloradans money on health insurance may become worthy of PolitiFact recognition in a few years.

In the meantime, I’ve decided to save money and the hassle of losing another policy. Like the four insurance companies, I chose to leave the state health insurance marketplace. Now enrolled in a health care sharing plan, my monthly payment and deductible will be lower than what I paid on a government-regulated insurance plan.

Although the association negotiates discounts with willing medical providers, it is not traditional insurance. Members of health care-sharing associations share each other’s health expenses. I make a monthly contribution to cover the health care bills of other members. Once I meet my deductible, members will help me out with any expenses I accrue.

Not only will I save money, I will not have to contribute to things I morally oppose. Because it is not insurance, the government cannot force health-sharing organizations and their members to pay for non-covered procedures such as abortion or sex change operations or medications.

I have always had a traditional insurance plan purchased through my employer or on my own. Several friends recommended health-sharing plans based on their own positive experiences. Losing my health insurance a second time in eight months made me considerably more open to affordable alternatives. Thanks gov.

Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on Twitter: @kristakafer.

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