Colorado Cost Shift Analysis

Achieving universal access to health care in Colorado is vital and a goal shared by policymakers, hospitals, providers, advocates, insurance carriers, business groups and, most importantly, Coloradans. While Colorado has made significant progress increasing coverage and access, one of the biggest remaining barriers is the high, and increasing, cost of health care. Currently, one in five Coloradans goes without necessary care because of cost, and one in three Coloradans can’t afford their medicine.

Historically, one driver of high costs was that health care providers had to recoup losses from uncompensated care and underpayment by public programs, like Medicaid, by charging other people higher prices. They did that by cost shifting: increasing costs for people who were insured in the private marketplace to cover shortfalls from public payers.

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