Colorado introduces HB 26-1019

Our next-door neighbors in Colorado recently introduced Legislature (HB 26-1019)  that will require mandatory health-care coverage for preventive kidney function screening. As Benjamin Franklin said “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Currently, the best national estimate for how much is spent on dialysis treatments in the U.S. healthcare system roughly $50–60 billion per year, with Medicare bearing the majority of that expense.

The act adds kidney function screening services as mandated preventive health-care services for which insurance policies or contracts in the state must provide total-cost coverage. Beyond the potential to save up to $60 billion in healthcare costs, preventing kidney failure whenever possible would spare countless individuals and families from the profound physical, emotional, and financial burdens of this devastating disease.

While policymakers face many competing priorities, preventive kidney health remains an area where relatively small investments can yield significant returns. Early screening helps identify disease before it progresses to kidney failure, reducing both human suffering and healthcare cost

In the meantime, nonprofits like the National Kidney Foundation of Utah & Idaho have been quietly doing the work for more than 25 years, investing nearly 30% of their modest budget in screening programs. One can only imagine what could be accomplished if prevention received the same enthusiasm as some of the other issues that regularly find their way onto legislative agendas.

https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/HB26-1019?fbclid=IwY2xjawSVZAFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFVUjVNVjJLSDF5ZTJtb0ZQc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHgEHIYffmRbxry2_83nSTj13yQz61dwQAaZ8zGhmw3LmyYAVupbM97PU5Cq__aem_BFM5zTgNwt1Kq31lS855UA