Legislative declaration

(1) The general assembly finds and declares that: (a) Section 1001 of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act", Pub.L. 111-148, as amended by the "Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010", Pub.L. 111-152, amended Title XXVII of the "Public Health Service Act", Pub.L. 78-410, in part, by adding a new section 2718 (e), requiring, in part, that each hospital operating within the United States establish, update, and make public a list of the hospital's standard charges for the items and services that the hospital provides; (b) Effective January 1, 2021, the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services published the final rule to implement the law, codified at 45 CFR 180; (c) In its summary of the final rule, CMS states that information on hospital standard charges is necessary for the public to "make more informed decisions about their care" and that the "impact of these final policies will help to increase market competition, and ultimately drive down the cost of health care services, making them more affordable for all patients"; (d) On July 9, 2021, President Biden, building upon efforts of past presidents, issued the "Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy", directing the secretary of the United States department of health and human services to support new and existing price transparency initiatives for hospitals; (e) Health-care price transparency is in the best interest of all Coloradans, including: (I) The state government, which purchases health-care services for almost one-fourth of all Coloradans; (II) Colorado businesses, which fund employee medical expenses; and (III) Colorado residents, who ultimately bear the brunt of high health-care costs in the form of higher taxes, lower wages, and residents' own out-of-pocket spending; (f) Moreover, health-care prices in Colorado are among the highest in the nation; (g) However, not all Colorado hospitals are in compliance with all of the disclosure requirements under federal law and other state laws governing health-care price transparency; and (h) This lack of compliance with health-care price transparency laws by Colorado hospitals decreases the likelihood that Colorado consumers will be fully aware of affordable health-care options before purchasing items and services from hospitals, placing health-care consumers at greater risk of collection actions and other adverse actions relating to unpaid medical bills. (2) Therefore, the general assembly finds and declares that it is imperative to protect Colorado health-care consumers from collection actions and other adverse actions taken by Colorado hospitals during the time when the hospital was not in material compliance with hospital price transparency laws intended to protect health-care consumers.