Here are five things to know.
1. The battle, which began last month, comes amid federal efforts to repeal and replace the ACA.
2. Colorado Sen. Jim Smallwood, R-Douglas County, has sponsored a repeal bill known as SB17-003. If passed, the bill would repeal the act that created the state exchange, effective Jan. 1, 2018.
3. In discussing the state’s health exchange, the senator said expectations for Connect for Health Colorado have not been met, according to the report. There are now “fewer insurance companies, fewer choices of physicians within those insurance companies,” he said. “And the premiums for those plans have really skyrocketed.”
4. Sen. Smallwood has thought about whether it is better for Colorado to join the federal exchange, rather than insurance customers continuing to be charged a fee to fund the state exchange, reports Colorado Public Radio.
5. Colorado Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper supports the state’s exchange, which has contributed to cutting the state’s uninsured rate from 14 percent to half that, according to the report.
For more on this story, read John Daley’s full report here.
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