The Colorado Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging the legality of hospital fees also known as a "bed tax" in other states, according to The Denver Post.
The decision by the state Supreme Court ends a six-year battle over the fees and keeps a lower court ruling in place.
The program requires collection of fees from Colorado hospitals, which are matched by the federal government and then redistributed to hospitals to help them cover Medicaid patients and people in rural areas. The initial provider fee program was started in 2009, a few years later there was a subsequent healthcare affordability and sustainability fee that was added.
The Tabor Foundation in 2015 filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the fees, arguing the fees violated the state's taxpayer bill of rights.
A 2019 district court ruling found that the original hospital provider fee and subsequent healthcare affordability and sustainability fee are "fees, and not taxes" and not subject to the bill of rights provisions.