Health Care
Hickenlooper to unveil what he calls a bipartisan health care market stabilization fix on Thursday
DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper will unveil the details of the bipartisan framework he says will stabilize insurance markets around the country on Thursday morning at the state Capitol in Denver.
Hickenlooper, a Democrat, hinted at the unveiling earlier this week after months of visible work and public appearances with Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican. The unveiling will happen at a news conference at 11 a.m. Thursday. Continue reading
Anthem staying in Colorado health insurance marketplace next year, a boon to market stabilization
DENVER – Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado is definitely staying in the state’s health insurance marketplace in 2018, the state Division of Insurance confirmed Wednesday.
The company had already tentatively committed to offering plans in Colorado next year when it submitted a rate request to the state in June, but Division of Insurance spokesman Vince Plymell told Denver7 Thursday the final commitment “actually came in the last week or so.” Continue reading
Rep. Coffman grilled on Obamacare replacement at town hall, talks VA wait times in interview
HENDERSON, Colo. – U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman voted against the House Republicans’ latest efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and has been talking about bipartisanship in crafting a health care solution for months, yet health care was still the prime topic of discussion at Tuesday’s town hall meeting at Prairie View High School.
Hundreds of his constituents from Colorado’s 6th Congressional District packed into the high school in Coffman’s first town hall meeting since April. Watch the town hall meeting in the player embedded below or by clicking here. Continue reading
Rep. Mike Coffman hosting town hall in Henderson Tuesday
HENDERSON, Colo. – U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman will host a town hall meeting Tuesday evening at Prairie View High School in Henderson—in Denver’s northeast suburbs.
The town hall meeting comes amid confusion and shake-ups in Washington—particularly in the White House.
Coffman has held several town halls this year amid pushes to fix the Affordable Care Act, and Tuesday’s town hall comes as he tries to push for bipartisan changes to the health-care law. His most-recent town hall in the Denver area was in early April.
Coffman voted against the House’s version of the Republican effort to repeal and replace the ACA, the American Health Care Act, in early May, and his since been pressing for bipartisan solutions as the Senate GOP push fell apart.
He said Monday he and a bipartisan caucus of congressmen and women had put together a new proposed solution to stabilizing insurance markets in each state.
Coffman’s Tuesday town hall is free and open to constituents of Colorado’s 6th Congressional District, but tickets to the event were sold out Monday.
People who have tickets will have to bring a photo ID to be cross-checked. Each person in attendance will be given a raffle ticket, which will be drawn at random to determine who will ask questions.
There are a few more rules for those planning to attend, which you can find by clicking here.
For those not able to attend, Coffman plans to live stream the event on his Facebook page.
The town hall meting starts at 6 p.m. at Prairie View High School in Henderson, and is scheduled to last for an hour.
In wake of GOP Obamacare repeal’s failure, calls for bipartisan fixes get louder in Colorado
DENVER – In the wake of the failure of Senate Republicans’ efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act early Friday, Colorado’s lawmakers and governor said they weren’t ready to give up on fixing issues with the nation’s health care system that both parties have acknowledged need to be addressed.
While Democrats were pleased that the “skinny repeal” bill Republicans threw together Friday in an effort to get to conference committee discussions with the House failed in a narrow 49-51 vote, they said there was still work to be done going forward. Continue reading
In evening vote, Cory Gardner shows health care hand by supporting failed BCRA procedural amendment
DENVER – In two procedural votes Tuesday, Colorado finally got a look at what cards U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner is holding as Republicans push to repeal and possibly replace the Affordable Care Act.
Gardner voted for the motion to proceed to debate on the bills—something that in and of itself was a victory for Senate Republicans when it passed on a tiebreaking vote by the vice president. Previous Senate versions of the bill had failed to get enough votes to make it to the floor for discussion. Continue reading
Sen. Cory Gardner votes for repeal of Obamacare in failed effort, staying true to his past
DENVER – U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner voted Wednesday to repeal much of the Affordable Care Act in another failed effort by Senate Republicans—keeping in line with how he voted in his first days as a senator in 2015 and holding true to his years-long promise that he’d repeal the health care law.
Gardner and his staff have avoided answering any questions in recent weeks about how he might vote in the latest efforts by the GOP to reach a party-wide compromise to repeal the ACA, also known as Obamacare, and possibly replace it later. But he’d spoken out in recent months against a straight-repeal bill, as well as against any bills that wouldn’t adequately cover the Medicaid population or people with pre-exisiting conditions. Continue reading
Sen. Cory Gardner votes ‘yes’ on motion to proceed to GOP health care bill; what comes next?
DENVER – U.S. Senator Cory Gardner voted Tuesday in favor of the motion to proceed to a Senate floor debate on Republicans’ efforts to repeal, and possibly replace, the Affordable Care Act—despite not knowing what bill the Senate might take up to debate first.
The final vote came down to Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who came back to the Senate just days after being diagnosed with brain cancer to cast a vote. Continue reading
Western Conservative Summit 2017 kicks off in Denver with Gardner, Buck, Sekulow among speakers
DENVER – The Western Conservative Summit kicks off Friday in Denver, and though President Donald Trump won’t be there this year as he was in 2016, the event is packed with high-profile Republicans and comes in the midst of a trying time for the GOP in Washington.
The yearly summit comes as Senate Republicans are expected to try for a last-ditch effort to get one of three possible health care bills to the floor early next week, though some of the senators who have opted to oppose bringing the Senate’s bills to the floor remain on the fence.
It also comes after a week of discord in the White House, as President Trump seemed to throw Attorney General Jeff Sessions under the bus over his recusal from the Justice Department probe into the 2016 in an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday, and White House press secretary Sean Spicer resigned Friday after Anthony Scaramucci was appointed as new White House communications director.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will be at the summit, and announced Friday that Colorado’s Canyons of the Ancients National Monument would remain a national monument after a review of designations made under presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama that was ordered by President Trump in April.
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., is scheduled to speak at the summit on Friday evening, though it’s unclear exactly what time or what he’ll talk about.
He’s been among the most under-pressure Senate Republicans regarding the GOP’s attempts to repeal and/or replace the Affordable Care Act, as he’s yet to definitively take a public stand one way or another on any of the three proposals laid out by the Senate GOP over the past two weeks.
Earlier this week, he seemed to tip his hand on how he felt when he said he wasn’t happy with people who he said were “spiking the football” after efforts to get a repeal-now, replace-later bill to a floor vote.
But in an interview with the Denver Post Thursday, he said he “would prefer a solution that would be a replacement” for the Affordable Care Act, perhaps a hint he wasn’t pushing for the repeal-only bill that some of his Senate colleagues have sought to vote on.
But Gardner said he wouldn’t speculate on if he’d support that bill.
“I don’t know that’s what would come up and I don’t want to say that I’m going to vote for this, that or the other before I see it and before I know what’s in it,” Gardner’s told The Post. “I don’t see why anybody should be concerned about fighting for legislation that they believe will do better than what we have.”
But Gardner also told The Post he wouldn’t focus only on health care in his speech to the Western Conservative Summit on Friday.
A group of advocates is expected to gather outside the convention center at 4 p.m. Friday to protest.
Many Colorado’s Republican governor candidates for 2018 will also be at the summit. Victor Mitchell will speak Friday night, and George Brauchler and Doug Robinson are scheduled to talk Saturday.
State Sen. Owen Hill, who is running for Colorado’s 5th Congressional District seat in the Republican primary for 2018, will also speak Saturday afternoon, and Rep. Ken Buck will speak Saturday night.
Also scheduled to speak Saturday night is Jay Sekulow, who President Trump has hired to represent him in the Russia scandal and who on Friday denied reports that Trump and the White House were discussing the possibility of pardons in the future.
The conference kicks off at 1:30 p.m. Friday, and the final session will start Sunday at 9:30 a.m. at the Colorado Convention Center.
Cory Gardner laments people ‘spiking the football’ after latest GOP health care failure
DENVER – U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner said Tuesday that people were “spiking the football” after learning that Senate Republicans were again unable to bring a bill to the floor that would repeal Obamacare without an immediate replacement—a move leadership had pivoted to after their second version of a new health care bill failed Monday night.
The Republican from Colorado was notably displeased at the failure of the latest attempt to fulfill the party’s promise to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act during a news conference he held with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other top Republicans in Congress’ upper chamber. Continue reading