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Denver's Sick Leave Scandal

Excerpt: 'You don't change horses in midstream.' With that comment in Tuesday's Rocky, Mayor John Hickenlooper succinctly explained why Denver has an out-of-control problem with career service employees' accumulated sick leave and the burdensome debt it represents, seemingly forever, for the city.

Colorado Lawmakers May Ease Curbs on Job Perks: Bill Helps Small Businesses Offer Wellness Programs

Excerpt: Perks to encourage employees to lose weight, stop smoking or otherwise improve their health have surged in popularity in recent years. But a quirk in state law prevents insurers from offering such incentives to small businesses or individuals. A bill working its way through the state legislature aims to change that. House Bill 1012, sponsored by Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, and Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Colorado Springs, allows insurers to provide premium discounts or rebates as well as reduced co-payments and deductibles to businesses with fewer than 50 employees or individuals for their participation in wellness programs.

Failure of Profit-Centered Health Insurance

Excerpt: The U.S. averages twice as much spending on health care, with worse outcomes, than any other industrialized nation. Our country is unique in its dependence on over 1200 for-profit health insurances that function as gatekeepers to health care. Shareholder and CEO profits trump access to quality health care. No health care reform proposal by any presidential candidate addresses the failure of the private health insurance industry, characterized principally by rising premiums and decreasing benefits.

California Court Ruling Suggests Several Health Care Plans Violate Federal Law

Excerpt: The prospects for dramatic changes in Colorado's health-care delivery system got a little more murky last week, thanks to a court order issued by a federal judge in San Francisco. OpThat's a positive development, in our view. As we said two months ago, presidential candidates are giving medical reform a prominent role in the campaign. So any state legislation enacted in 2008 may well be pre-empted by federal action in 2009.