Bill maintaining health care choices for CU employees moves forward

Legislation clarifying that the University of Colorado may continue to offer existing health plan choices to its classified employees passed its second reading in the Senate on Tuesday, May 11.

House Bill 1427 resolves legal questions that had been raised about the university's authority to offer alternatives to health plans offered by the state's Department of Personnel and Administration (DPA). Some 74 percent of CU classified employees take part in CU health plans; nearly all others are in the state's Kaiser plan.

Had CU's authority to offer plans been challenged, nearly 5,000 university employees and dependents might have been prohibited from participating in their current plan of choice. The bill clarifies that institutions of higher education may continue to offer health plans to classified employees, in addition to or in lieu of DPA plans, as long as those plans are comparable to or better than a DPA plan.