Health dialogue gets people speaking in Springs

Officials in Gov. Bill Ritter’s administration came to Colorado Springs on Wednesday to gauge support for whether major changes in health care are needed.

A group of 32 community leaders meeting at The Broadmoor hotel answered with a resounding “yes.” The response was mixed, however, on how it should be changed.

The “Governor’s Dialogue on Health Care Vision and Values,” involving 11 meetings around the state, could be a precursor for a 2008 ballot question.

Commissions on health care, transportation and education have called for funding increases.

Ritter has said he’ll back only one tax-increase proposal, and a number of Democrats say he’s leaning toward health care.

The crowd of local health care providers, nonprofit leaders and business representatives may have given Ritter some of the backing he needs. In polling, they were nearly unanimous in saying their vision for good health care involves coverage for all children and access to primary care for everyone.

They responded with the same near-unanimity that the state should enroll all eligible low-income individuals in publicly funded programs.

And 92 percent said the state should offer incentives to doctors and dentists to practice in rural and underserved communities.

“There’s consensus that there’s a significant need to address the problem,” said Cody Belzley, a senior policy analyst for Ritter. “I don’t think that any of the meetings have provided a magic bullet.”

The Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Reform has recommended the state require all individuals to buy insurance and that it offer subsidies to more low-income families and uninsured workers to help them get coverage. The audience Wednesday split on those and other ideas, though.

Just 50 percent backed mandating that individuals buy health insurance, and only 30 percent supported the idea of requiring employers to provide insurance or pay for private insurance.

A larger portion, 72 percent, backed expanding eligibility to public health programs to those who earn too much to qualify now.

They also backed, though by a smaller margin, expanding free-market competition rather than increasing the government’s role in providing insurance.

The group backed personal responsibility as a key to health care. Smokers and obese people should pay more for health care, attendees said, and healthy people who use less health care should be allowed to keep cost savings.

The responses will be tallied with those of other meetings and included in a report to Ritter before the commission makes its report to the Legislature on Jan. 31.

Asked if they had any final messages for the governor, those at the meeting again gave a variety of responses.

A Colorado Springs pediatrician said doctors need to be reimbursed more for taking patients on public insurance, and several people agreed emergency rooms can no longer be used as the first medical stop for the needy.

“Whatever the solution, minimize the overhead and bureaucracy and maximize the health care,” said Mike Kazmierski, president of the Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp.

CONTACT THE WRITER: (303) 837-0613 or ed.sealover@gazette.com