A few years ago, the Hospital Provider Fee was all people were talking about at the Capitol. During that time, the media called it “Colorado’s biggest political battle.”
While the “fee” was first created in 2009, legislators moved it outside of the General Fund (without voter approval) in 2017, meaning it wouldn’t count toward our state revenue cap under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. And since then, it has virtually disappeared from discussions. Nevertheless, the Hospital Provider Fee might be more relevant today than ever because it touches on two of the most important policy debates of this session: transportation funding and the “public option.”
For background, the Hospital Provider Fee is a charge that hospitals place on patients when they stay overnight. It doesn’t show up as a line-item on your bill, but it’s there. This money is then sent to the state. Next, the state receives matching federal funds. Finally, whole amount ($1.6 billion annually) is sent back to the hospitals.
This is one of the main ways our state budget continues to skyrocket, even as we vote down tax increases. Moving the Hospital Provider Fee outside of the General Fund allows legislators to spend an extra $600 million in brand new revenue each year. Revenue that supporters of this initiative promised would be the solution they’d been looking for to fix our roads, especially in rural Colorado.
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