Series: State commission taking “deep dive” into health care costs in mountains | AspenTimes.com

Summary: “People in the mountain resort towns of Colorado are used to spending as much as 15 percent more for gasoline, groceries and housing,” writes William Scanlon in one part of a six-part series in The Aspen Times on health costs in Colorado. “But why 50 percent or 80 percent more for health care? Aren’t we healthy? Aren’t we responsible? They in particular want to know why Colorado nixed the idea of putting the entire state in one geography zone so people from all corners of the state would pay about the same for health insurance. There are reasons why that didn’t happen, some that make grudging sense to high country residents and some that don’t. Before Obamacare, ‘no one paid attention to what things cost,’ Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar said. ‘Now, there’s much more transparency.’ While transparency generally is good, in this case it illuminated the differences in health costs between metro Denver and the mountain resorts. And that difference was huge.” William Scanlon, “Series: State commission taking ‘deep dive’ into health care costs in mountains,” one part of a six-part series on Colorado health costs in The Aspen Times..