CCLP testifies on reducing administrative burden on the health care industry

CCLP testifies on reducing administrative burden on the health care industry

by Bethany Pray, Esq. | Apr 27, 2026

Consumer Protections, Health, Legislative Updates, Research and Policy Analysis, Testimony

On Thursday, April 23, 2026, Bethany Pray, Chief Legal and Policy Officer at CCLP, provided testimony to the Senate Health & Human Services Committee on Senate Bill 26-138, Reducing Administrative Burdens on Health Care.

The bill was brought by healthcare industry partners this session. While we recognize there are cost and efficiency benefits to reducing administrative burdens for the health care industry, we prioritize reducing administrative and economic burdens for patients. The amended bill is a definite improvement, and we are hopeful that continuing work with the bill proponents will get us to the right place.

Thank you, Chair and Members of the Committee,

I'm Bethany Pray, Chief Legal and Policy Officer at the Colorado Center on Law and Policy and I'm testifying today in an amend position on SB26-138. CCLP is a non-partisan, state-wide anti-poverty organization. We share the proponents' goal of reducing administrative burdens for the health care industry, and as an organization that aims to advance the rights of all Coloradans, we prioritize reducing administrative and economic burdens for patients, ensuring they are protected from discrimination, and ensuring system transparency.

This bill, with the strike-below and related amendment, has truly come a long way. For that, we thank our hospital partners for their collaboration. However, we do think there is a bit more to do.

CCLP works closely on Medicaid eligibility issues with the state, health care partners, and community members, and we know that HR1 implementation will result in loss of coverage for many Coloradans - even those who should be exempt, or who are working - because our eligibility system is cumbersome and uses old technology, and because we lack structures to provide people with the hands-on assistance they need.

A Rand report[1] says Colorado will lose $100,000 from Medicaid by 2034 due to work requirements and more frequent redeterminations. I think that's low. We'll need to work to prevent the worst consequences for those Coloradans-health consequences and crushing debt-and we also need our health care system to be prepared to weather the financial hit.

This bill can help - by clarifying the role of hospital presumptive eligibility in getting patients promptly enrolled, and by allowing the use of tools that can more quickly qualify people for discounts, whether through Hospital Discounted Care[2] or a hospital-specific program. We do want to make sure that we know what tools are being used; as the strike-below is now written, there would be no way for consumers to know what tools are being used, whether they considered assets, or whether they operated in way that discriminated against certain groups. In addition, we support the amendments requested by our partners at Colorado Consumer Health Initiative.

I would need much more than two minutes to talk through the varied aspects of this bill, both improvements and lingering issues. So, I will leave it there, asking both for the committee to support the strike-below and supplementary amendments, and to be open to more change. We are on the right track.

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[1] https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4098-1.html

[2] https://hcpf.colorado.gov/hospital-discounted-care

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