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Senate Bill 44 – Primary Health Care Services for Uninsured Adults (cont.)
SB06-44 has been changed significantly by a “strike below” amendment. As amended, the bill now allocates the money to the Colorado Indigent Care Program (CICP), where it can be doubled to $30 million by drawing down federal matching funds. The majority of the funds (72%) will be allocated to the CICP clinics for primary care services for adults, with the remaining 18% allocated to Denver Health for adult care in their primary care clinics. All FQHCs participate in the CICP program and will still receive funding, but this amendment assures other CICP clinics in geographic areas not currently served by FQHCs can also benefit.
The amendment also assures more people receive health care by expanding eligibility for the CICP program to a minimum of 250% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), giving the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing the authority to raise the FPL even further. This bill is competing with at least two other proposals for use of the same Referendum C funds. At the same time, the General Assembly is still determining whether there is any “new” Referendum C money for this or any other bill, or if the Referendum C money will all be needed to avoid further budget cuts and/or restore some of the recent budget cuts.