As Americans across the country return to struggling for coverage, Coloradans will be spared.
Colorado health insurance will maintain its coverage of individuals with pre-existing conditions, despite the Trump administration’s recent moves. The president shocked the health care industry earlier this month when the Department of Justice announced it wouldn’t be defending certain central components in the Affordable Care Act.
This announcement may mean that Americans with pre-existing conditions could once again lose coverage.
That said, Colorado health insurance law will make certain that residents of the state will continue to be protected. Coloradans have been breathing a sigh of relief that their pre-existing conditions will not cause them to be denied insurance or have to pay astronomical premiums.
Republican leaders in 20 states – though not in Colorado – are taking part in a case that would risk cutting health insurance off Americans with certain high-cost medical needs or pre-existing conditions. Those states argue that the Affordable Care Act’s regulations requiring insurers to affordably cover those individuals are unconstitutional.
Their efforts were spurred on by last year’s vote in Congress to make the penalty for forgoing health insurance zero dollars. This essentially made the individual mandate – which requires most Americans to obtain health insurance coverage – meaningless, said a Denver Post report.
Colorado health insurance is supported beyond the ACA with a state law that passed in 2013.
Even if the federal government removes the requirement for health insurance companies to offer affordable coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, a state law still requires it. The state insurance commissioner is confident that Coloradans will remain protected regardless of what is going on federally. The 2013 state law added the ACA’s protections to the state’s own requirements.
“Regardless of how the Justice Department or the Trump administration attempt to change the Affordable Care Act, the Division of Insurance will continue to enforce Colorado law and maintain this important protection for our citizens,” said the state’s interim Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway.
That 2013 Colorado health insurance law, which was called the “alignment” bill by legislators at the time, requires health insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions without charging them more than they would their healthy policyholders.
