Against All Odds, a Productive Session for Health: CHI’s 2017 Legislation in Review Report

What does a dog’s harrowing experience on a frozen pond have to do with Colorado’s 2017 legislative session? Like Fido, the General Assembly experienced slip-ups, frustration, uncertainty, anxiety, and then a sudden, triumphant return to solid ground – all in 120 days.

While this year’s session threatened to collapse at times and was full of its share of finger-pointing and partisan politics, Democrats and Republicans managed to strike deals on big issues, including the Hospital Provider Fee dilemma that has dogged them for years. In a post-session speech, Governor John Hickenlooper called it the “most productive session” in a long while. National media lauded the “amicable and even, sometimes, friendly environment” at the Capitol despite split-party control.

While the Colorado Health Institute watched with interest as legislators debated topics like construction defect litigation and legal marijuana clubs, our focus remained, as always, on health and health care issues. After tracking 95 proposals this year, CHI today released the 2017 edition of our annual Legislation in Review report.

This publication details Colorado’s political “power players,” highlights key aspects of the state budget debate, and identifies dozens of notable health bills considered by legislators. In it, we call out five themes to this action-packed year:

1. Big Deals Finally Succeed: A last-minute accord on the Hospital Provider Fee proved to be the signature achievement of the 2017 session.
2. Still No Answer on Health Costs: Attempts by Western Slope lawmakers to address high insurance costs once again came to naught.
3. Insurers Face Greater Scrutiny: Insurance companies saw an onslaught of bills questioning their business practices.
4. Encouraging Year for Behavioral Health: The opioid epidemic was on legislators’ minds when they directed attention and funding to mental health and substance use programs.
5. Public Health Finds a Majority: Immunization programs and health surveys survived conservative attempts to cut their funding.

By no means do these themes encapsulate everything that happened with health care, but they’re a good start for those seeking takeaways and conclusions from another whirlwind session.

We hope you enjoy Legislation in Review. And if you want to read about every bill we watched this session: 1) Good for you. 2) You can find our 2017 Bill Tracking List here.

Have additional thoughts or questions? Feel free to reach out to us. Cheers to a summer filled with warm water, happy pups and a lack of legislative drama – at least at the state level.