Colorado Spending Transparency

The state cannot pay its bills and taxpayers get blamed. And no one asks where did the more than $18 billion in taxpayer dollars go.

The Denver Post reports:

Temporarily short on money, Colorado has declared a fiscal emergency and delayed payments to doctors and clinics taking care of the state’s neediest patients.

The usual suspects are providing the usual excuses.  Governor Bill Ritter’s spokesman Evan Dryer claimed the delay is a “cash flow” problem.  Joint Budget Committee member Senator Moe Keller (D-Wheat Ridge) blamed taxpayers who have asked for an extension on their income taxes and have not made “additional payments to the state.”

COST went to the Governor’s user-unfriendly transparency Web site (TOPs) to see where some of our money went.  Consider the following state expenditures:

• $3,238,437.68 for dues and memberships including various Chambers of Commerce, Colorado State Bar Association, Wine Development Fund and hundreds of other organizations.
• $6,426,999.36 for bank card fees. Question: do taxpayers get the reward points or miles?
• $65,824.78 for interest on late payments.
• $1,285,449.93 for “customer workshops” in places such as Beaver Run Resort.
• $2,841,045.14 in miscellaneous fees and fines. Maybe the state will reimburse taxpayers for parking tickets received near the state capitol for those taxpayers who parked too long at a meter waiting to testify in committee.
• $72,899,996.09 for travel including more than $8 million for non-employee, out-of-state travel and more than $2 million for non-employee, out-of-country travel.

The 2010 Colorado General Assembly passed judgment on 23 pieces of legislation, including one joint resolution, that claim some type of transparency benefit.  Seventeen passed.

Some were great such as Rep. Amy Stephens’ bill requiring transparency for gifts, grants and donations that pay for special interest government and Rep BJ Nikkel’s bill requiring more detailed information be made available on the state’s disappointing transparency Web site called Transparency Online Project (TOP).

Some bills were bad. HB 1330, the transparency trojan horse that supporters called the All Payer Health Care Database, was particularly bad.

Some bills were acceptable but not great because they bumped bills that were much better.  The Public School Financial Transparency Act and Smart Government fall into this category.

For a more detailed wrap up of how transparency fared during the 2010 legislative session visit iVoices.org to hear our transparency podcast.

Coloradans are just a senate vote and Governor’s signature away from losing complete control over who has access to their private medical records.  On Friday, HB 1330 the All Payer Database passed out of the Senate Appropriations committee along a party line vote and is headed to the full Senate.

In a March press release Independence Institute Health Care Policy Center Director Linda Gorman, author of “Bill Summary: HB10-1330, the All-Payer Database: A Transparency Trojan Horse” warned:

that the legislation grants unlimited power to the Executive Director of Health Care Policy and Financing to mandate the collection of any health care data, to conduct audits, to give the data to third parties without seeking permission, and to impose unlimited fines for refusing to provide data to the database.

Gorman calls the bill “a frightening invasion of privacy” because patients and providers have no say over whether the state may have “access to individual information on physical functioning, medical treatment, supposed mental stability, marital problems, family structure, sexual habits, addictions, adherence to government health recommendations, and individual financial arrangements.”

Noting that Colorado state government has a history of losing supposedly secure data, Gorman is also concerned that the database will be funded by “unknown” sources with “unknown” agendas.

Several other troubling developments surround HB 1330.  The first is how government has flipped transparency from taxpayers watching government to government watching taxpayers.  The second is the lack of outrage from civil libertarians. Worst of all, as Coloradans are about to have all their private medical information collected and stored in a centralized government database, Colorado media are silent.

Transparency Czarina Amy Oliver Cooke just sent this press release.  It’s not too early to start grieving for your medical privacy.  Very soon we could be reminiscing about what it like was when our health care records were kept private seen only by ourselves and our doctors unless we gave permission to do otherwise.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 26, 2010

Contact: Linda Gorman, Health Care Policy Center Director, 303-279-6536, or Linda@i2i.org
Amy Oliver Cooke, Colorado Transparency Project Director, 970-371-3413, or Amy@i2i.org

Transparency Trojan Horse:
Legislation Disrespects Colorado Patients and “Makes a Mockery of Medical Privacy”

GOLDEN, Colo.– Coloradans moved one dangerous step closer to losing complete control over who has access to their private medical records. With a 4-3 vote, HB10-1330, the All-Payer Health Care Database, passed out of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee yesterday.

Independence Institute Health Care Policy Center Director Linda Gorman, author of “Bill Summary: HB10-1330, the All-Payer Database: A Transparency Trojan Horse” warns that the legislation grants unlimited power to the Executive Director of Health Care Policy and Financing to mandate the collection of any health care data, to conduct audits, to give the data to third parties without seeking permission, and to impose unlimited fines for refusing to provide data to the database.

Gorman calls the bill “a frightening invasion of privacy” because patients and providers have no say over whether the state may have “access to individual information on physical functioning, medical treatment, supposed mental stability, marital problems, family structure, sexual habits, addictions, adherence to government health recommendations, and individual financial arrangements.”

Noting that Colorado state government has a history of losing supposedly secure data, Gorman is also concerned that the database will be funded by “unknown” sources with “unknown” agendas.

Amy Oliver Cooke, Director of the Colorado Transparency Project, blasted the bill’s supporters who invoked transparency in health care costs as the reason for gathering private medical information, “To call it transparency is an insult to taxpayers and patients and makes a mockery of medical privacy. ” She explained, “transparency means taxpayers keep an eye on government not the other way around.”

The legislation also creates a commission that Gorman describes as little more than window dressing with no power to affect the outcome or protect individual privacy.

HB10-1330 is now headed to the Senate Appropriations Committee. It already has passed the House.

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13952 Denver West Parkway, Suite 400 . Golden, CO 80401 . www.independenceinstitute.org

Coloradans should beware the “Transparency Trojan Horse” that will create a database containing their most personal health care information, according to an Independence Institute analysis of HB 1330 the Health Care Cost Transparency Act sponsored by State Representative John Kefalas and Senator John Morse.

Health Care Policy Center Director Linda Gorman warns that the legislation grants unlimited power to the state’s Executive Director of Health Care Policy and Financing to mandate the collection of any health care data, to conduct audits, to give the data to third parties without seeking permission and to impose unlimited fines for refusing to provide data to the database.

COST sees two troubling trends with this bill.  First, it is a frightening invasion of privacy.  Second, those who want to expand the scope of government and control over individual behavior are using the popular transparency mantra to cloak their real intentions.

Transparency, as COST knows it, allows taxpayers to see what government is doing.  It was NEVER intended to allow government access to citizens’ private information.

Sadly, HB 1330 just passed the House Health and Human Services Committee with a unanimous vote.

Our transparency Czarina Amy Oliver Cooke is a mom so we hear lots of parenting stories.  Right now, President Barack Obama looks like the over promising parent who constantly under delivers.  While American voters are like the kids who aren’t buying the falsehoods and simply roll their eyes every time Barack Obama utters the word “transparency.”

According to Breitbart TV, Obama has made no fewer than eight promises for transparency in health care reform negotiations.  Those promises ring hollow.  Politico reports:

President Barack Obama and congressional Democratic leaders agreed Tuesday to forgo a formal conference committee for reconciling the Senate and House health care bills, according to three Democratic congressional aides.

The decision means that the White House, Senate Majority Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will attempt to reach an agreement through private negotiations with key lawmakers.

No C-SPAN. No TV cameras. No internet streaming. No opposition party. Once again…No transparency.

According to Governor Bill Ritter’s own transparency Web site TOP, the state paid $283,129.15 to Beaver Run Resort over the last two fiscal years (FY08-09 and FY09-10).   Several state government departments including Education, Governor’s office, Higher Ed, Human Services, Judicial, Corrections, Public Safety, Health Care Policy and Financing, and Local Affairs, spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars for official functions, customer workshops, in-state travel, food, equipment rental and more.

COST reminds its readers that we are not here to judge the expenditures, but we would like to know how Colorado taxpayers benefited.  What was the intended performance outcome of these expenditures?

Some context certainly would be helpful especially considering the Governor’s latest round of “budget cuts” which includes $145 million for Higher Education and more furlough days for state employees.

Transparency Czarina Amy Oliver Cooke showed COST, not one but two, very pretty, 4-color glossy brochures from the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF).  Ms. Cooke received them when HCPF Director Joan Henneberry presented her “if money weren’t an object what would your department want” list to the Long Term Fiscal Stability Commission of which our Czarina is a member.

Of course we wanted to know how much those pretty brochures, complete with messages and photos from both Henneberry and Governor Bill Ritter, cost Colorado taxpayers.  So we went to Governor Ritter’s transparency site TOP for more information. 

COST found that HCPF spent $74, 935.91 on “printing/reproduction services.” But we have no idea what Coloradans received for their nearly $75,000.  Inherent in true transparency is an explanation so taxpayers know how they benefited from government expenditures.  That is one of the many problems with TOP.

We stumbled on to something else. Under advertising, we found an $8750.00 payment to the Bawmann Group Inc that specializes in crisis communication management.  The company Web site boasts “60 minutes, Larry King, we’re ready!”

If you’ve ever been the subject of intense media exposure — for all the wrong reasons — then you know there are worse things in life: like being run over by a train. Helping you get off the tracks and put the pieces back together is what we do best.

Some of our recent crisis communications clients include the University of Colorado and President Elizabeth Hoffman who faced a national media frenzy over allegations against the football team for sexual misconduct; a home health agency under threat of lawsuit for an alleged wrongful death; and a CEO of a major nonprofit institution who was ambush interviewed about his salary.

 
Crisis communications is at the core of what we do at The Bawmann Group. It is our experience that during times of major transition, organizations are most vulnerable to situations were negative press occurs. Being vigilantly prepared and response-ready can help mitigate major damage.

Why would HCPF need to use taxpayer dollars for “crisis communications?” That’s when COST remembered Director Henneberry’s response to HCPF employee AnnMarie Maynard turned whistleblower.  Through secret tapings, Maynard exposed HCPF’s attempt to hide the misuse of $8 million in taxpayer funds. Instead of being rewarded for exposing wrongdoing, Maynard was fired, and Henneberry went on to contradict state law by forbidding the secret taping in the future.

Governor Ritter supported Henneberry’s decision, but the State Personnel Board did not.  In fact the personnel board suggested that Ritter discipline Henneberry. Instead using taxpayer money, he appealed the decision.  As COST related back in January:

A Denver Post editorial articulated the arrogance of spending someone else’s money, “HCPF presented its case in two sets of legal hearings and failed to persuade. Its new policy exhibits a fear of transparency rather than a concern about wrongly collecting taxpayer money.”

Now the $8750 payment to the BawmannGroup just might make sense. To be fair, Bawmann does other types of marketing campaigns — not just crisis communication management. But it does make COST wonder if HCPF used taxpayer money to hire the PR firm to handle bad publicity from HCPF’s misuse of taxpayer funds.  COST can call to find out, but if Governor Ritter gave more than lip service to transparency, taxpayers and COST would know.

And when we call, we’ll ask why the Department of Human Services under the leadership of Karen Beye paid $793,068.24 to Bawmann.

Westby G. Fisher, MD of Illinois, known as Dr. Wes on his blog, picks up on Linda Gorman’s irony when she wrote about HB 1293 the “health care affordability act” in her most recent Issue Backgrounder.  In his post “The Ultimate Irony: A Sick Tax to Make Health Care Affordable,” he writes:

[L]ook for cash-strapped legislatures across the country to consider a this latest tactic to feed from the Medicare National Bank: in Colorado, held to lower taxes by their self-imposed “Tax Payers Bill of Rights” (or so-called TABOR law enacted in 1992), legislatures have resorted to a “sick tax” cleverly disguised as a hospital fee added without line-item status to hospital bills.

He then proceeeds to cite Linda’s paper as he muses about how ridiculous it is to claim that health care will be more affordable if sick people are taxed in secret.  COST would laugh at how insane this all sounds if we weren’t actually living the fiscal nightmare.