Making Work Pay & Welfare Reform Progress Endangered
Owens Administration Failing to Implement
Comprehensive CHP+ Reform

DENVER - New Democrat legislators demanded that Governor Bill Owens abandoned his reactive, “band-aid” approach to fixing Colorado's Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+), which covers children in working families who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough for private insurance.  While his proposal to make premiums more affordable is welcome, the administration has made no progress on the program's lingering fundamental problems:

For fear that more eligible families will sign up for Medicaid, the administration has done nothing to strengthen the state's lackluster marketing effort.

The enrollment process remains unbelievably bureaucratic, cumbersome and confusing and desperately needs reform.

Working Coloradans are needlessly being shuffled between Medicaid and CHP+, sometimes having to change health care providers and deal with different eligibility criteria, income ceilings, time limits and copayments.

“Without more fundamental changes, too many children are and will continue to fall though the huge crack between Medicaid and private health insurance.  More comprehensive reform is needed now to assist the very families who are working hard to stay off welfare,” stated State Rep. Dan Grossman (D-Denver).

State Rep. Bob Hagedorn (D-Aurora) added, “I applaud the Governor for taking this one step forward.  However, the people I have talked to in the field who are trying to enroll kids in CHP+ have told me that the red tape is as big, if not greater, of an obstacle than cost of premiums. We need to make CHP+ more consumer-friendly.  Applicants should not be required to fill out massive, confusing forms and needlessly shuffled between state bureaucracies.  Otherwise, the children of these working parents will remain without health care.”

The New Democrat Caucus is a group of state legislators developing a new public policy agenda that moves beyond traditional conservatism and liberalism.  The Caucus embraces a new “third way” in politics that emphasizes opportunity, responsibility and community, rooted in mainstream values and dedicates its efforts to development and passage of progressive legislation.