Navigating the health care maze

To the editor,
Coloradans have many questions about health insurance. You have fulfilled the federal individual mandate to have insurance if you are covered by private health insurance or if you have public health insurance through programs like Medicaid, Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+), Medicare, TRICARE, VA or Indian Health Services. For more information about the mandate, visit our new consumer website created to help Coloradans understand the health law changes and their options for getting covered, at Colorado.gov/health.

The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing administers Colorado’s public health insurance programs for low-income individuals and families. These programs include Medicaid and CHP+.  Medicaid and CHP+ are low cost and offer coverage for preventive care, doctor visits, prescriptions, emergency services, maternity care and other services.  CHP+ also includes dental and vision care for kids. Medicaid will be adding a dental benefit for adults in April of next year. Go to Colorado.gov/hcpf/benefits for more information.

In the past, Medicaid has been limited to covering kids, individuals with disabilities, some parents and very low-income adults without kids. Because of new laws passed here in Colorado, starting in January, Medicaid will cover more adults and parents. For example, individuals earning about $15,000 a year or a family of four earning about $31,000 may now qualify.  We expect this new coverage to benefit more than 160,000 Coloradans, but in order to see if you qualify, you need to apply.

You can apply for public health insurance coverage online at Colorado.gov/PEAK, in person at your local county office, on the phone, or by filling out a paper application and mailing it in. You will want to gather critical information in order to fill out your application. Coloradans applying online may get an immediate answer on whether or not they qualify if the application is filled out accurately and completely. If we are missing some information, you will get a letter from Medicaid with instructions and a checklist of information we need you to verify. If you are looking for application tips and want to learn more about applying, visit Colorado.gov/ health and click on” frequently asked questions.”

Since Oct. 1, we have worked with our partners to make significant improvements to our online application at Colorado.gov/PEAK so you can skip certain questions if they do not apply to you. You can also save your application and come back if you can’t finish it all at one time. 

If you do not qualify for Medicaid, don’t worry, you may qualify for help through the Connect for Health Colorado marketplace. The marketplace is not the federal marketplace, and Connect for Health Colorado has a fully functioning website. Federal law requires a Medicaid denial (referred to as a case ID number) in order to get financial assistance through the marketplace. If you don’t want to get the financial assistance, you can purchase a plan directly through Connect for Health Colorado without having to get a Medicaid denial. 

If you have questions about your coverage options, a good place to start is Colorado.gov/health.  Our Department has worked with the Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Insurance, Department of Public Health and Environment and Department of Human Services on questions about how the new health laws impact them. For more information about Connect for Health Colorado visit connectforhealthco.com. The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing administers Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) as well as a variety of other programs for low-income Coloradans who qualify. The mission of the department is to improve health care access and outcomes while demonstrating sound stewardship of financial resources. For more information about the department, please visit Colorado.gov/hcpf.

– Tom Massey, Deputy Executive Director/Policy, Communications and Operations Office Director, Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing

Life beyond the red kettle

To the editor,
What do we do with all those dollar bills you stuff in the red kettle at Christmas? Every Friday, a member of the Salvation Army Board attends the Community Emergency Assistance Coalition, and we generally give $900-$1,000 to several of the neediest and most vulnerable members of our community. Perhaps it is an elderly gentleman in need of glasses, a young mom leaving the Safehouse who needs help with rent, or a veteran, living in his car, asking for new tires.

Community Emergency Assistance Coalition consists of many agencies, including Dept. of Human Services, United Way, Round Up and others. Applications are carefully analyzed, and we watch where every penny goes.  When considering an application, the vision of a little child putting a few coins in the kettle guides us to make the right decisions.

In this outstanding community, which has won so many awards and accolades, it can be easy to forget those who are struggling to survive. Reading their requests for help is a humbling experience. Of our 2013 budget of $111,000, $46,800 is directed to emergencies only, as we combine with other local agencies at the Community Emergency Assistance Coalition to really make a difference. For example, when the VOA Shelter recently had to be evacuated, we provided hotel rooms for all the residents. The change you put in the kettles last year made a profound difference in the lives of our neediest citizens. Thank you.

– Judy Duke, local chairwoman, Salvation Army, Durango

Congress doesn’t get jobs issue

To the editor,
Americans are floundering until the economy recovers. The economy won’t recover until there are sufficient nongovernment jobs to employ the masses. There will not be sufficient jobs until we address the issue that caused our job losses in the first place, our inability to compete with the rest of the world. We lost our competitiveness in the early ’80s, and jobs started leaving. Our representatives in Washington are doing nothing. They either don’t get it or lack the courage to take on the issue.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s sitting right in their midst. HR 25, the FairTax Bill, takes on the issue of our lack of competitiveness and solves it. By changing our federal income tax system from taxing all forms of personnel income to a national sales tax on new goods and services, we win. This new system eliminates all embedded taxes and tax-associated costs throughout the manufacturing process. All of a sudden, America arguably becomes the low cost place in the world to do business and therefore the place to build your new factory. Good-paying jobs return. Americans win.

Right now, 74 congressmen are co-sponsoring the bill. It’s likely that yours is not. Contact him or her today.  Find out more at FairTax.org.

– Anthony Gasbarro,  Fairhope, Ala.