By Ed Sealover
The Gazette
Copyright 2008 The Gazette
DENVER — Colorado drivers could lose the discounts from a change in automobile insurance in 2003 in a trade-off intended to shore up emergency medical care.
The estimated cost: $250 per person per year.
SB211 proposed by Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, would require motorists to buy medical payment insurance that covers up to $25,000 in care for themselves and passengers if they are in a crash. It is legislative leaders’ favorite of three pending bills regarding trauma-care payments.
Before 2003, drivers had to buy $130,000 worth of nofault coverage that required insurance companies to pay the medical bills of their clients involved in crashes, no matter who was at fault. With rates rising at twice the national average, legislators replaced no-fault insurance with a tort system in 2003, a policy that makes medical coverage optional and allows companies to delay payments of bills until fault is determined.
Drivers saved an average of $322 per car per year when no-fault was eliminated, according to a study released in February. The change also opened the door for 51 new insurance companies that have entered the Colorado market since 2003, Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association Executive Director Carole Walker said.
But many drivers no longer have insurance to cover crash injuries, and “self pay” patients have doubled, said Dr. Andrew Berson, assistant medical director for health services for the Memorial Health Care System.
American Medical Response ambulance service has seen the time it takes to collect claims payments more than triple, and its collection rates have dropped from 91 percent to 63 percent, general manager Chad Fallenkamp said. Some rural areas created special taxing districts to generate money to keep ambulances in service, he said.
Some physicians won’t treat trauma victims because of the financial risks. Five of the 17 anesthesiologists on contract at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction left en masse, citing the lack of trauma-care reimbursement, trauma medical director Dr. Joel Schaefer said at a hearing Wednesday before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
Paul Bloom of the AIG insurance company predicted that individual insurance costs would rise under the bill, not only because of the new mandatory policy but because some insurance companies might pull out of the state, leading to less competition and higher prices. About 32 percent of Colorado drivers now buy the optional medical insurance.
Makayla Jacob of the Quality Health Care Coalition argued that mandatory medical coverage could reduce deductibles on health care policies and reduce other medical costs.
Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, is the sponsor of another measure that would require policies covering up to $15,000 in medical care.
It also would add a $16 fee to annual driver’s license renewals to increase reimbursement to traumacare providers.