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Governor Bill Ritter has continued his bill-signing tour, yesterday signing into law eight bills that seek to improve health care, including one designed to make Colorado’s federal Medicaid system more efficient, according to The Associated Press.
Another bill requires all children ages four to eight to sit in a booster seat when riding in a car or truck. Ritter signed the bills at The Children’s Hospital in Aurora, saying that “we are once again delivering a package of laws that will improve quality and contain costs” (via the Denver Business Journal).
Senate Bill 167, sponsored by Senator Betty Boyd, a Lakewood Democrat, allows the state to recover three times the damages from companies that attempt to defraud Medicaid.
House Bill 1021, will require insurers to offer contraception and prenatal coverage, except in instances where women who are already pregnant seek to buy health care. Opponents say the bill will increase insurance costs and force groups that oppose contraception, such as Catholic Charities, to offer services they don’t believe in.