Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs

Good afternoon, Senator. Welcome. Thank you, Madam Chair, Madam Chair and members of the committee, I'm pleased to present Senate Bill 29 here, one of our earliest bills here. I think, as we all know, affordability is a major issue for Colorado families and certainly a big component of that is health care expenses. You know, you look at the state budget, the state budget alone, the largest item this year now they're telling us, is Medicaid. 32%, 33% of the state budget now is just that one item. And so that's a reflection, I think, of how much healthcare is becoming more expensive and consuming more. Colorado is also currently ranked to be one of the most expensive states to live in, unfortunately with housing and health care and other expenses. And so I'm pleased to present legislation that I've introduced to create a 25% tax credit for Coloradans who make contributions to health savings accounts. I introduced this same bill during our August special session, which was designed then to address the health care issues that were brought up by the governor. And I'd like to continue pursuing this idea for our Colorado families. The amount of the…