COLORADO- ‘The Office of Saving People Money on Health Care’ is now in the works, as Governor Jared Polis signed an executive order to create the office.
A bill sponsored by House Majority Leader Alec Garnett will look fulfill the $247,000 funding request Governor Polis’ is asking for to create the office.
‘If it was any one thing I think the solution would be a lot simpler,’ said Polis in reference to the cause for rising health care costs to reporters in a press conference on Wednesday.
As mentioned, in his State of the State Address, the office will be led by Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera.
Primavera, a cancer survivor, says she knows first hand the challenges of being a patient and having to make tough financial decisions.
Still, when it comes to solving the ongoing rising costs of health care, workers in the field say there’s not an easy answer.
‘I don’t think there’s any silver bullet, I don’t think there’s any one thing that if we did this it would solve it, I think we have to look comprehensively,’ said Pam McManus, CEO of Peak Vista Community Health Centers, which sees low-income patients throughout Colorado.
McManus says many of the people coming through its doors face some sort of access barrier with their health care.
‘Most of them are having to make really hard decisions between paying for a prescription or paying for gasoline to make it to work,’ said McManus.
Polis says the Lt. Governor will be focusing on the office heavily during her time, in addition to her typical duties as Lt. Governor.
