An administrator with Colorado’s Division of Insurance who was at the center of a dispute with U.S. Sen. Mark Udall’s office over policy cancellations due to the Affordable Care Act will leave her job for a different state position.
Jo Donlin is set to serve in the Division of Professions and Occupations as a health care adviser, according to an e-mail sent to staff Thursday and obtained by The Denver Post.
“Jo has done an extraordinary job of developing external partnerships and relationships on behalf of the DOI. She has raised awareness of the division in the work we do so that the Colorado community as a whole understands the role we play in consumer protection and regulating carriers,” wrote Division of Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar, who noted that Donlin’s last day as director of external affairs will be Feb. 28.
In November, internal e-mails revealed Donlin believed Udall’s office was unjustly “trashing” its report that 250,000 Coloradans would have their individual insurance policies cancelled under the Affordable Care Act — a law Udall supported.
“Sen. Udall says our numbers were wrong. They are not wrong. Cancellation notices affected 249,199 people. They (Udall’s staff) want to trash our numbers,” Donlin wrote to fellow staffers at the time.
She added that a “hostile” phone conversation with a member of Udall’s staff also ensued.
Udall’s office has maintained the number is not accurate since about 96 percent of the policy cancellations received renewal options.
The senior senator is up for re-election in November, and Republicans called on the Department of Regulatory Agencies to conduct an investigation.
Donlin has never spoken publicly about the matter, even after DORA found no other staffers felt pressure from Udall’s office.
Still, the investigation became clouded when Barbara Kelley, executive director of DORA, could not provide notes or detailed information on the investigation. Kelley, an appointee of Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, eventually named those who conducted the investigation after inquiries from The Post.
A DORA spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment on Donlin’s new position. Salazar’s e-mail to staff says she had been working with Donlin to develop a transition plan.
