FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, file photo, Colorado Governor elect Jared Polis, center, jokes with members of the state house and senate before his inauguration at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Health care proposals are among the first actions for some new Democratic governors and Democratically controlled legislatures. Expanding access to care was a rallying point for the party in the 2018 elections. (AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via AP, File)

DENVER | Colorado hospitals will be required to report their annual spending and expenditures as part of an effort to curb health care prices under a bill about to become law.

The bipartisan legislation is key to Gov. Jared Polis’ efforts to reduce health care costs and increase price transparency in a state whose rural residents often pay some of the nation’s highest insurance rates.

The first-term Democratic governor was to sign the bill Thursday.

Polis’ health care agenda includes creating a state reinsurance program to help private insurers lower premiums; exploring a public health insurance option; and determining the feasibility of importing cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, among other measures.

The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing will issue an annual report incorporating the hospital data beginning in 2020.

The Associated Press is an independent, not-for-profit news cooperative of 1,300 newspapers, including The Sentinel, headquartered in New York City. News teams in over 100 countries tell the world’s...