Colorado Sun: Colorado’s public health insurance option puts a bull’s-eye on hospital profits. But some rural facilities could make more.

Situated in the small Eastern Plains town of Hugo, the 60-year-old Lincoln Community Hospital is one of the most affordable in Colorado.

A study last year found that it currently charges privately insured patients on average only slightly more than the rate that Medicare pays for the same services, giving Lincoln Community the third-lowest prices of any hospital in the state. It is also community-owned and a specially designated “critical-access hospital,” a title bestowed on small, remote hospitals that provide vital services to rural areas.

All of those things should work to its advantage when lawmakers on Thursday finally introduce the much-awaited bill to create a public health insurance option in Colorado. The proposal comes with a government-dictated formula setting out the prices hospitals can charge to people covered by the public option.