(1) The general assembly hereby recognizes that, through the sunset review for the division of insurance within the department of regulatory agencies in October 2001, the general assembly adopted a recommendation to consolidate and relocate the regulatory functions concerning health care cooperatives. The provisions of parts 1, 2, and 4 of article 18 of title 6, C.R.S., were, therefore, repealed and relocated to this part 10.
(2) The general assembly hereby finds that:
Under the current health care system in this state, individuals risk losing their healthcare coverage when they lose or change jobs or when coverage becomes unaffordable;
Continued escalation of health care costs threatens the continued economic vitality ofthe state; and
Health care is a critical part of the economy of this state, representing a significantpercentage of public and private spending, and affects all industries and individuals in this state.
(3) The general assembly hereby determines that:
Comprehensive health care benefits that meet the full range of health needs, as mandated by Colorado and federal law, should be readily available to citizens of this state;
The current high quality of health care in this state should be maintained;
Employers and their employees in this state should be afforded a meaningful opportunity to choose from a range of health plans, health care providers, and treatments;
Competition in the health care industry should ensure that health plans and healthcare providers are efficient and charge reasonable prices;
All individuals should have a responsibility to pay their fair share of the costs ofhealth care coverage;
Colorado's health care system should build on the strength of the employment-basedcoverage arrangements that now exist in this state; and
In order to help control health care costs, consumers should be empowered to organize to directly negotiate health care prices with providers.
(4) The general assembly, therefore, declares that the purposes of this part 10 are to:
Promote control of the cost of health care for employers, employees, and individualswho pay for health care coverage by pooling purchasing power among consumers and organizing providers so that health care services are delivered in the most efficient manner;
Allow health care cooperatives established under this part 10 flexibility in the determination of plans and coverages they provide to members and the selection of health
provider networks, plans, and providers with which they contract for services;
Promote individual choice among health plans and health care providers;
Ensure high quality health care; and
Encourage all individuals to take responsibility for their health care coverage by pooling consumer purchasing power through the organization of health care markets in a more efficient and effective manner.
The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that the rapidly changing health care market provides unique opportunities for health care providers to organize themselves into new forms of collaborative systems to deliver high quality health care at competitive market prices to cooperatives and other purchasers. This part 10 is enacted to encourage such collaborative arrangements and to promote market-based competition among health care providers.
The general assembly further recognizes that, in order to achieve the most effectiveuse of resources and medical technology to respond to changing market conditions, providers who would otherwise be competitors with each other will need to horizontally integrate in order to develop collaborative arrangements to guarantee an adequate number of providers to service the market and to vertically integrate in order to guarantee that those who receive services will have a continuum of care as appropriate to their care needs.
The general assembly also recognizes that to effect such new forms of collaborativesystems and integration of providers to service the market will require an analysis of:
Existing methods of providing services, contracting, collaborating, and networkingamong providers; and
The extent and type of regulatory oversight of licensed provider networks or licensedindividual providers that is appropriate to protect the public.
Source: L. 2004: Entire part added, p. 992, § 14, effective August 4. L. 2019: (2)(a), (3)(a), (3)(e), (3)(f), (4)(a), and (4)(e) amended and (3)(g) added, (SB 19-004), ch. 205, p. 2190, § 2, effective August 2.
Cross references: For the legislative declaration in SB 19-004, see section 1 of chapter 205, Session Laws of Colorado 2019.