§ 10-16-1001 — Legislative declaration

(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C.R.S., were, therefore, repealed and relocated to this part 10.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:

(a) Under the current health-care system in this state, individuals risk losing
their health-care coverage when they lose or change jobs or when coverage
becomes unaffordable;

(b) Continued escalation of health-care costs threatens the continued
economic vitality of the state; and

(c) Health care is a critical part of the economy of this state, representing a
significant percentage of public and private spending, and affects all industries and
individuals in this state.

(3) The general assembly hereby determines that:

(a) 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;

(b) The current high quality of health care in this state should be maintained;

(c) 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;

(d) Competition in the health-care industry should ensure that health plans
and health-care providers are efficient and charge reasonable prices;

(e) All individuals should have a responsibility to pay their fair share of the
costs of health-care coverage;

(f) Colorado's health-care system should build on the strength of the
employment-based coverage arrangements that now exist in this state; and

(g) 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:

(a) Promote control of the cost of health care for employers, employees, and
individuals who 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;

(b) 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;

(c) Promote individual choice among health plans and health-care providers;

(d) Ensure high quality health care; and

(e) 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.

(5) 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.

(6) The general assembly further recognizes that, in order to achieve the
most effective use 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.

(7) The general assembly also recognizes that to effect such new forms of
collaborative systems and integration of providers to service the market will require
an analysis of:

(a) Existing methods of providing services, contracting, collaborating, and
networking among providers; and

(b) The extent and type of regulatory oversight of licensed provider
networks or licensed individual providers that is appropriate to protect the public.

Legislative History

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.