The Health Cost Analysis Task Force is the legislatively appointed body charged with selecting a nonpartisan, unbiased vendor to perform an analysis pursuant to House Bill 19-1176. The vendor will analyze the current health care system, a multi-payer universal system, a publicly financed and privately delivered universal system, or another system that would meet the health care needs of Coloradans.
Welcome from the Chair
On behalf of the 1176 Health Care Cost Task Force, welcome to our website. Here you will find the bill that created this task force (HB19-1176), member bios, meeting dates and locations, and agendas and materials.
We are an engaged group, excited to take on this work.
In a nutshell, we are charged with selecting an experienced, nonpartisan, unbiased analyst who will analyze, at a minimum, the following health care systems:
- The current Colorado health care financing system in which residents receive health care coverage from private insurers and public programs or are uninsured,
- A multi-payer universal health care system ion which all residents of Colorado are covered under a plan with a mandated set of benefits that is publicly and privately funded and also paid for by employer and employee contributions, and
- A publicly financed and privately delivered universal health care system that directly compensates providers.
What makes our work unique? One element is the scope of what we may be able to weigh within the analysis. For example, what are the collateral costs to society of high health care costs?
We will complete our duties to the extent feasible with funding provided through moneys appropriated by the General Assembly and with gifts, grants, and donations.
Major milestones: On or before January 1, 2021, we will submit a preliminary report to the General Assembly that contains the analyst's methodology for studying the health care financing systems, and on or before September 1, 2021, we will deliver to the General Assembly a final report of the Task Force's findings received from the analyst selected.
Our intention: provide facts to determine the most cost-effective method of financing health care that ensures all Coloradans have access to adequate and affordable health care.
We welcome your involvement - our meetings have a public comment period and you can email questions or comments to January Montano, our pleasant and proficient policy support expert. Her contact information is: January.montano@state.co.us.
We are also planning stakeholder meetings outside of the Denver area - dates to be determined and posted on this page.
Sincerely,
Mitzi Moran
Chair
- Task Force Members
-
Carrie Cortiglio, Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment
Carrie Cortiglio has over 20 years of experience working in public health and health care policy at the federal, state and local level. She is currently the Director of the Prevention Services Division at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Most recently she was the Deputy Director of the Policy, Communications and Administration Office at the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. The Office oversees the Department's legislative and budget agendas, internal and external communications, training and organizational development, federal policy and grants, and client services. Carrie led Department culture change efforts to improve employee engagement and integrate person-centered principles into Department programs, policies and processes. Prior to her most recent role at Health Care Policy and Financing, she was the Department's legislative liaison. Before joining the Department, Carrie worked as a policy analyst and lobbyist for the Health District or Northern Larimer County. Her work there focused on all aspects of health and health care policy. Before relocating to Colorado, Carrie worked for the Massachusetts legislature and for Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro.
Carrie holds a Master of Science from the Harvard School of Public Health with a focus on maternal and child health and a bachelor's degree from Dickinson College. She is a graduate of 2010 Advanced Leadership Training Program Regional Institute of Health and Environmental Leadership (RIHEL).
Representative Emily Sirota, Colorado General Assembly
Emily Sirota represents House District 9 in the Colorado Legislature as a social worker and proud progressive Democrat with years of experience working in government and in the southeast Denver community.
Before her election to the Colorado House of Representatives, Emily helped run an early learning center in Denver. She received her B.A. in Political Science at Indiana University and received her Master of Social Work from the University of Denver. Emily has previously worked for the Colorado Progressive Coalition and helped organize support for paid sick days. In 2011, she ran for Denver school board to protect public education.
During her time in government, Emily served as a policy aide to a Democratic U.S. Senator, a Democratic congressman and a Democratic governor. In those roles, she worked on health care and budget policy, and helped oversee a program to expand health care benefits for workers and small businesses.
Emily is married to reporter David Sirota, and they are the proud parents of two young children and their dog, Monty.
Senator Jim Smallwood, Colorado General Assembly
No information provided.
Senator Joann Ginal, Colorado General Assembly
Senator Joann Ginal was voted to fill the vacancy seat for Senate District 14, representing Fort Collins in December of 2018
She currently is the Chairwoman of Local Government, and sits on the Agriculture /Livestock Committee.
A healthcare professional, bio-scientist and community leader, State Rep. Joann Ginal is a longtime Fort Collins resident and is proud to represent her community.
Dr. Joann Ginal has spent three terms representing Colorado House District 52, which is Fort Collins and parts of unincorporated Larimer County. During her terms in the House of Representatives, she served as the Chairwoman of the Health, Insurance & Environment Committee, she also served on the Public Health Care & Human Services Committee, and the Transportation and Energy Committee.
Rep. Ginal has focused much of her attention on healthcare and public health issues. Rep Ginal is concerned with the cost of medical care and has run legislation to increase transparency for the costs of prescription drugs. She has sponsored a bill to help physicians and veterinarians to help pay back student loans, by working in rural areas. Rep Ginal has expanded the scope of practice for Pharmacists, who at times are who people turn to for medical issues.
She also passed bills to create uniform standards for prior authorization of prescription medication, saving health care providers significant time and money and ultimately reducing costs for consumers.
In 2015 she passed a state-wide bill for telehealth, which will help patients see their healthcare provider faster esp. in rural and underserved urban areas. In 2013 she was the first to pass a law regulating naturopathic doctors in Colorado, which had failed for 22 years prior to Rep. Ginal's legislation.
Rep. Ginal is also a champion for patients' rights. She is the sponsor of the End of Life Options Act, which would allow the terminally ill to self-administer a lethal dose of medication rather than continue to suffer with an irreversible and incurable illness that, in the opinion of two doctors, will cause death within six months. She also passed a law to allow terminally ill patients to participate in clinical trials or use investigational drugs (also known as the Dallas Buyer's Club bill). Colorado was the first to pass such a law, which 36 other states have passed since 2014.
Rep. Ginal has worked in the pharmaceutical and medical fields for over 20 years as a scientist specializing in reproductive endocrinology. Her positions in the pharmaceutical industry were in sales, marketing and clinical field research as a medical liaison specializing in women's health, neurology and cardiology.
Before entering the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, she was a professor of biology at Florida Institute of Technology, did aging research at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL and held teaching positions at Iowa State University and Colorado State University.
She has also been a lead biologist for several international eco- travel companies, leading expedition biodiversity trips down the Amazon River in Peru, Columbia and Brazil and African photo safaris in Kenya and Tanzania. She recently returned from a months trek in Botswana and Namibia.
She earned a Ph.D. in reproductive endocrinology from Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine, a Master's degree in zoology, specialty in parasitology from Iowa State University and a Bachelor's degree, with honors in biology from the University of New Hampshire and a minor in microbiology.
She has been an active member of the Fort Collins community for over 25 years. Rep Ginal served a total of 16 years on the City of Fort Collins Boards and Commissions. Eight years on the Commission for the Status of Women and eight years on the Human Relations Commission. She is a trained master naturalist for the City of Fort Collins and cares deeply about preserving the special places that make Fort Collins a nationally recognized place to raise a family, retire, enjoy the outdoors, start a business or receive an excellent education.
Rep. Ginal was raised in a working-class family, in Manchester, N.H. Her father was a police officer and her mother stayed at home, raised three children, and was a dedicated community volunteer. Her parents taught her the values of honesty, hard work, and the importance of giving back to the community.
In her spare time, Rep. Ginal loves being outdoors. Her favorite activities are hiking and slot canyoneering in Utah and Arizona. She has trekked for many weeks at a time in the U.S., Africa, Middle East, Europe, Asia and South America. Other activities include skiing, paddle boarding, riding her motorcycle and collecting vintage maps and books.
Karla Gonzales, Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights
Karla G. Gonzales Garcia is originally from Iquitos, Peru. She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from the Universidad de San Martin de Porres in Lima, Peru. While completing her degree, she became an intern for a non-profit organization in Peru that provided crisis counseling for street-children who had been sexually assaulted. After graduating, Karla worked with kindergarten children with learning disabilities for three years. Karla then moved to the United States thirteen years ago, and she initially spent most of her time working with victims and survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual violence, and immigrant rights advocacy in San Miguel County, Colorado. Her passion for social and racial justice motivated her to pursue her graduate degree in ethnic studies with a certification in women and gender studies at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, CO. While pursuing her graduate degree, Karla worked as an outreach and education specialist providing sexual and reproductive health education programs and access to health services for marginalized populations. She decided to expand her research skills and diligently worked as a research assistant for a partnership between Colorado State University and the Restorative Justice Institute, to address the ethnic and racial disparities on achievement and retention gap of minority students in schools. After finishing her coursework, Karla became the co-interim director for the agency she used to work for in Telluride, CO. Karla continuously works to be grounded in decolonial methodologies, methods of research, and social justice praxis in order to achieve her long-term career goals of influencing policy making and advocacy based on meeting unique community needs.
Kate Harris, Colorado Division of Insurance
Kate Harris has spent her career working at the intersection of public health and public policy, primarily on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Washington State and Colorado. In early 2019 she joined the Colorado Division of Insurance as the Chief Deputy Commissioner for Life & Health Policy, where she oversees much of the Division's work increasing consumer protections and Coloradans' access to affordable, high-quality coverage and care.
Prior to this Kate was the Policy and External Affairs Director at Connect for Health Colorado, the state's health insurance marketplace. In this role she led the organization's public policy development and legislative engagement, and worked to increase health insurance access, affordability, and choice for Coloradans. Kate serves on the Boards of Directors for the Harm Reduction Action Center, Colorado's largest public health organization working with individuals who inject drugs, and the Center for Improving Value in Health Care, the state's All-Payer Claims Database.
Kate holds a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington's Evans School of Public Policy and Governance with a graduate certificate from the University of Washington's School of Public Health.
Michelle Miller, Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing
Michelle Miller serves as the CO Department of Health Care Policy & Financing's Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) and as the Deputy Director for the Cost Control & Quality Improvement Office. As a nurse of 25 years, Michelle has a diversified clinical background spanning over 19 years of direct patient care and clinical coordination experience encompassing neonate, pediatric, and adult populations in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. Early in her nursing career Michelle specialized in pediatric critical care and acute trauma, respiratory and neurological disorders, and children with complex needs. Michelle then turned her focus to solid organ transplant, first as a nationally certified Organ Recovery Coordinator then as a Hepatology and Liver Transplant Coordinator. Michelle holds a master's degree in Leadership in Health Care Systems and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). As in her current role as the Department's CNO, Michelle coordinates the development, implementation, and administration of clinically related projects or programs that pertain to member health outcomes, cost-containment, and quality improvement initiatives.
Mitzi Moran, Sunrise Community Health
Born in Colorado, Mitzi was raised as the 4th generation on the family farm in Yuma, CO. She attended the University of Northern Colorado, graduating with a Spanish degree and a TESL minor. She is a graduate of the Sustainable Transformation Program, University of Northern Colorado, Monfort Institute, the Johnson & Johnson UCLA Health Care Executive Program, John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management at University of California, and the Regional Institute of Health and Environmental Leadership, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and University of Denver.
While attending UNC and after, Mitzi worked for 14 years at North Colorado Medical Center in information technology, outreach services development, interpretation, quality and patient advocacy, and project management. Those experiences served her well when she became the clinic manager at Sunrise Community Health in 1998, she still loves the multiple hats one wears when working in a nonprofit organization. After serving as the director of operations, Mitzi became Sunrise's chief executive officer in 2006. Under Mitzi's leadership, Sunrise has more than tripled in size and today is a recognized state and national leader in HIT adoption, integrated health care services, safety net collaborations, and professional health education.
Proud to be on the Sunrise team serving over 41,000 people in need in northern Colorado, Mitzi volunteers on several state and local boards. Under Mitzi's leadership, Sunrise has more than tripled in size and today is a recognized state and national leader in HIT adoption, integrated health care services, safety net collaborations, and professional health education. Serving over 41,000 people in need in northern Colorado, Sunrise is leading the way in compassionate, affordable, quality health care for all.
Monica VanBuskirk, Connect for Health Colorado
Monica VanBuskirk joined Connect for Health Colorado as the Chief Policy and Relationships Officer in August 2019. In this role she shapes the organization's involvement with health policy and advances our marketing strategy. She was previously with Meapta Inc as a policy advocate and Aspen Labs as a human-centered designer.
She has an extensive experience in finance innovation for healthcare. She developed and managed new business strategies at Kaiser Permanente and Colorado Permanente Medical Group, Denver Health, and the Department of Health Care Policy & Financing. Prior to Colorado, she supported the Affordable Care Act (ACA) rollout at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center (CMMI), an expansion of population health services at Aprofe in Ecuador, and comparative effectiveness research at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Dr. Renee Marquardt, Colorado Department of Human Services
No information provided.
Thomas TR Reid, Author
T. R. Reid has become one of the nation's best-known reporters through his books and articles, his documentary films, his reporting for the Washington Post, and his light-hearted commentaries on NPR's Morning Edition.
T. R. Reid majored in Classics at Princeton University and subsequently worked as a Naval officer during the Vietnam War, a lawyer, a teacher, and assorted other jobs. At The Washington Post, he covered Congress and four presidential campaigns. He served as the paper's bureau chief in Tokyo and London. Reid has reported from 4 dozen countries on five continents.
T. R. Reid has written ten books in English and three in Japanese, and translated one book from the Japanese. His 2009 book "The Healing of America" became a national best-seller. PBS Frontline made two documentaries, "Sick Around the World" and "India--A Second Opinion" following Reid as he did the reporting for that book. Reid wrote a chapter of the recent Japanese best-seller "Nippon no Mirai ni tsuite."
T. R. Reid's newest book: "A Fine Mess -- A Global Quest for a Fairer, Simpler, and More Efficient Tax Code" has recently been published in paperback (Penguin Books). It suggest what the U.S. should and should not do as Congress embarks on a major effort at reforming our rotten federal tax system. It includes an analysis of the 2017 tax "reform" bill, which gave the largest benefits to corporations and upper-bracket taxpayers -- and made tax returns even more complicated.
T. R. Reid has made documentary films for National Geographic Television, PBS, and the A&E Network. His latest PBS film was "U.S. Health Care: The Good News," which is being broadcast by PBS affiliates around the country.
Reid is Chair of the Board of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, a $70 million operation that serves tens of thousands of Coloradans who are down on their luck. He has served as Kai-cho, or President, of the Japan-America Society of Colorado. He is Chairman of the Colorado Foundation for Universal Health Care, the state-wide citizens' campaign working for universal health care coverage. He has served on the boards of Princeton University and several other community and national organizations.
Reports
- HB19-1176 Health Care Cost Task Force – Final Report to Colorado Legislature - Sept. 1, 2021
- HB19-1176 Colorado School of Public Health Cost Modeling Report
Stakeholder Outreach Meetings
The Health Care Cost Analysis Task Force is hosting a series of meetings for public input in English and Spanish. Please see the information below on upcoming stakeholder meetings:
English Language Meeting
Spanish Language Meeting
Stakeholder Meetings
The Health Cost Analysis Task Force Meetings are currently scheduled to meet twice a month. This schedule is subject to change depending on the tasks at hand and may be held by conference call. Check back here for the latest schedule.
Schedule subject to change:
Frequency: 1st and 3rd Friday of the month
Time: 2:30pm - 4:30pm
Meeting Call In Information
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android:https://meetings.ringcentral.
For the best audio experience, please use computer audio.
Or mobile phone one-tap:
+1(646)3573664,,1490245198#
+1(773)2319226,,
+1(312)2630281,,
+1(470)8692200,,
+1(469)4450100,,1490245198# (US South)
+1(623)4049000,,1490245198# (US West)
+1(650)2424929,,1490245198#
+1(720)9027700,,
+1(213)2505700,,1490245198#
+1(346)9804201,,
Or Telephone:
Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
+1(646)3573664
+1(773)2319226 (US North)
+1(312)2630281
+1(470)8692200 (US East)
+1(469)4450100 (US South)
+1(623)4049000 (US West)
+1(650)2424929
+1(720)9027700 (US Central)
+1(213)2505700
+1(346)9804201
Meeting ID: 149 024 5198
2021 Meeting Schedule
August 20, 2021
August 6, 2021
July 30, 2021
July 16, 2021
July 2, 2021
No meeting due to holiday
June 18, 2021
June 4, 2021
May 21, 2021
May 7, 2021
April 16, 2021
April 2, 2021
March 19, 2021
Meeting cancelled
March 5, 2021
February 19, 2021
Meeting cancelled
February 5, 2021
January 15, 2021
Resources
- Health Care Cost Analysis Public Meeting - Webinar Recording
- Interim Report to Legislature - Jan. 1, 2020
- Final Interagency Agreement - Dec. 23, 2020
Contact Us
Please reach out to January Montano at January.Montano@state.co.us to send the Task Force input, comments and questions.
Reasonable accommodations for the meetings will be provided upon request for persons with disabilities. Please contact the Program Administrator at least one week prior to the scheduled meeting if you need special arrangements.