The City Club of Denver invites you to join us for the following presentation:
Health Care Affordability and the Governor’s Roadmap for Saving People Money on Health Care
As many of us painfully know, the costs of health insurance and accessing health care in Colorado have skyrocketed in recent years.* Annual premiums for employer-sponsored insurance - the most common way of getting covered in Colorado - have risen 50-60% from 2008 to 2017 and now average more than $20,000/year for a family plan, roughly the cost of buying a new car every year!
At the same time, the cost of using health insurance is getting higher and higher, with deductibles having risen even faster than insurance premiums, at 65% from 2010 to 2017, while high-deductible health plans have become the norm. Coloradans spent on average nearly $7000 per person for health care in 2014, over and above what they paid in insurance premiums.
Where is this all going and what can be done about it? Join us for a luncheon discussion with Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera and Adela Flores-Brennan, Executive Director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. They will provide information on the scope of the health care affordability problem in Colorado and the Governor’s many initiatives to address these challenges, including his Roadmap and new Office on Saving People Money on Health Care, which the Lieutenant Governor leads.
Our Speakers:
Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera
Adela Flores-Brennan
Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera is a leading patient advocate who has spent three decades fighting for every Coloradan’s access to quality, affordable health care. As a young mother in 1988, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since her first diagnosis, Dianne has fought cancer four times and survived. Her personal battle with cancer inspired her to make it her life’s work to ensure every Coloradan has access to the health care they need when they need it.
Diane has held many prominent positions throughout the public and nonprofit sectors, devoted to furthering life-saving medical research and connecting Coloradans who experience illness with the treatment they need to recover. She was elected in 2006 to the first of four terms in the State Legislature, representing Broomfield, Superior, and parts of Erie. Throughout her service, Dianne was highly regarded for her success working across the aisle to promote Colorado small businesses, lower prescription drug costs, and expand access to affordable health care.
The Office of Saving People Money on Health Care is the cornerstone of the Governor’s efforts to reduce the cost of health care for Coloradans. It is working to reduce patient costs for hospital stays and expenses, improve price transparency, lower the price of prescription drugs, and make health insurance more affordable.
Adela Flores-Brennan is the Executive Director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative (CCHI), a statewide, non-partisan, non-profit membership organization working so all Coloradans can get affordable, high-quality, and equitable health care.
Adela joined CCHI after serving as the director of community-based assistance programs for Connect for Health Colorado, the state's insurance exchange, where she implemented and managed two statewide networks of organizations to provide outreach, education, and assistance with application and enrollment. Prior to that, Adela served in various advocacy and policy roles at the Colorado Center on Law and Policy.
Adela holds a BA and MA in International Studies and a JD. She currently serves as the Board Chair for Connect for Health Colorado and on the board of Colorado Access.
*Date cited here are from John Ingold, “11 Charts that help explain health care costs in Colorado,” Colorado Sun, January 3, 2019, which drew from the Colorado Division of Insurance, Health Insurance Cost Report, 2017 and the Colorado Health Institute and the Colorado Hospital Association, “Affordability in Colorado: Answers About Health Care Costs, 2018.