Friends and Colleagues -

Please join other independent Colorado practitioners in voicing your opposition to the current bill moving through Congress to replace the Affordable Care Act. CoPPP will be meeting with lawmakers in Colorado over the coming weeks to demonstrate concern and offer expertise that practicing caregivers in Colorado are uniquely positioned to offer.

CoPPP believes that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), while not perfect, was a dramatic step in the right direction towards: improving access to health care for all Coloradans, preventing discrimination in the individual health insurance marketplace (including discrimination based on pre-existing health conditions or gender), defining a minimum set of Essential Health Benefits (EHB) that all insurance plans must cover for Coloradans, creating a viable and more equitable safety net healthcare program for the most vulnerable populations in our state through federal subsidies and cost-sharing, and ensuring the viability of our rural hospitals essential to the provision of healthcare and cornerstones of these local economies.

While we agree that the ACA needs improvement, CoPPP believes that any bill crafted to replace the Affordable Care Act must address the following improvements:

1. Any bill passed MUST broaden health coverage and decrease the number of uninsured Coloradans. We cannot move backwards. This includes the more than 400,000 Coloradans who gained access through Medicaid expansion.

2. Any bill passed MUST ensure that poor Coloradans receive adequate subsidies to allow them to purchase health insurance in the marketplace. If tax credits are the method by which this is to be achieved, the credit must be income-based and should be based on actual insurance costs in the marketplace.

3. Any bill passed MUST require all insurance plans to cover a minimum set of essential benefits, guided by evidence. In particular, the new legislation must continue to protect Colorado women's ability to access quality care, including contraception and maternity services.

4. Any bill passed MUST ensure that Medicaid, CHIP, and other safety-net programs are adequately funded to provide care to low-income children and adults in Colorado. Creating a system whereby states will be forced to choose between replacing federal subsidies with state money or reducing coverage is not acceptable.

5. Any bill passed MUST find ways to continue to ensure the viability of rural Colorado hospitals. More than 10% of Coloradans in large parts of the state (including south and southwest Colorado) gained coverage through ACA Medicaid expansion and ACA subsidies. Hospitals and healthcare entities in these communities provide vital healthcare to underserved populations and are cornerstones of these economies.

6. Any bill passed MUST allow Coloradans free access to the qualified healthcare providers of their choice without government interference. This includes Planned Parenthood which provides high quality reproductive healthcare for women across the state, particularly the poor. Government should not be in the middle of the patient-doctor relationship.

Please join us! We ask you to do two things:

First, SIGN up!! Put your name down and in the Comments section add your practice address and, if you wish, your title.

Second, FORWARD the link to this petition (https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/colorado-physicians-protecting-patients-coppp) to 10 more practitioners who are aligned with our mission to protect the advances to patient care in Colorado made by the ACA!

Sincerely,

Jonathan Manheim, MD

Duane Pearson, MD

Meg Lemon, MD

David Leonard, MD

Stacy Fischer, MD

Mark Earnest, MD

Josh Blum, MD

and the Colorado physicians of CoPPP