By Diane Carman Michael Pollen, one of the high priests of the trendy local, organic food movement, is brutally honest about its real impact on the American diet. As a percentage of food production, he said, its still in the single digits. Despite high-profile advocates from Chez Panisse celebrity chef Alice Waters to First Lady Michelle Obama, the industrial food production system still reigns supreme. For those who do harvest lettuce or fresh eggs from backyard gardens, buy peaches from a farmers market and cook dinner at home instead of picking it up at a fast-food drive-through, the benefits go…
Category: Health Care Industry - Part 14
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Many Coloradans with jobs say they can no longer afford health insurance, a new analysis from the Colorado Health Access Survey has found. Nearly one-third of Coloradans more than 1.5 million people are either uninsured or underinsured, according to the initial survey results that were released in November. New analysis shows that 85 percent of uninsured Coloradans say they dont have health insurance because its too expensive. Job loss and poverty used to be the key causes for poor health coverage. But the landscape in Colorado is changing dramatically. Today, a good job no longer guarantees…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon of Solutions COLORADO SPRINGS An attack seizes Chaz Moores body, stealing much of his breath. Spasms in his throat, lungs and diaphragm cause the 17-year-old to speak in hiccups, one syllable at a time. He says it feels like a grown man is jumping on his chest as the muscles in his belly roll like waves. Chaz opens a jar labeled MMJ, pulls out some fresh green buds and crumbles the marijuana into a small pipe. He lights up the bowl and inhales as deeply as possible through the spasms, turning to blow smoke out his…
By Diane Carman Listening to the candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination might lead your average health care consumer to think the system is on the verge of collapse. While the Affordable Care Act is not yet fully implemented and remains in large part unproven, some health care systems around the country are demonstrating the potential for significant improvements in cost control, access to care and better outcomes. They also are acting as testing grounds for such health care reform concepts as medical homes, virtual health care, electronic medical records, integrated behavioral health care and revenue pooling across care…
By Bob Semro Prescription drugs are a big part of the monthly budget for many seniors on Medicare, and provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are working to lower those costs. In 2011, 3.6 million Medicare recipients nationwide saved $2.1 billion in prescription drug costs, according to estimates released last week by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In Colorado, 39,746 Medicare recipients saved $22.8 million on prescription drugs, or $579 per person on average, according to these estimates. HHS projects these savings will increase over time totaling nearly $4,200 for the average Medicare recipient by 2020….
By Diane Carman When the Colorado Springs City Council voted 9 to 0 last weekto endorse a proposed lease agreement between the University of Colorado Hospital and city-owned Memorial Health System, it moved the Rocky Mountain region one step closer to a tectonic change in the landscape of health care. If Colorado Springs voters approve the plan, the University of Colorado Hospital (which is affiliated with the university, but is an independent legal and financial entity) will assume administration of the nonprofit Memorial Hospital. That would be one more step in the long-term drive to expand the University of Colorado…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon AURORA The dinner plates at the Veleasquez home were as colorful as a Cezanne painting. On this Saturday evening, the family was dining on pink grilled salmon, baked purple potatoes, yellow Colorado sweet corn and a mlange of steamed vegetables: carrots, green beans and cauliflower. Dessert was bright orange sweet potatoes, fresh from the grill. There was no butter sauce or sour cream to drench on anything. Instead green limes garnished each plate and Karla, 8, was squeezing them on her purple potato to add extra zest. This kind of healthy, nutrient-packed meal is the norm…
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot (Crown, 366 pages) By Diane Carman The first time that author Rebecca Skloot heard of Henrietta Lacks was in a biology class. Her teacher mentioned the name of the woman whose cells had been used in thousands of scientific experiments over decades, and had enabled scientists to discover breakthroughs in prevention of polio, gene mapping, chemotherapy, in vitro fertilization and advancements in the understanding of a vast array of medical conditions. Skloots curiosity was piqued. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the culmination of a decade of dogged reporting and…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon ALAMOSA The grandmother sports chic short gray hair, her post-chemo look. She tells her doctor that she finally feels well enough to tend her vegetable garden this summer a sure sign that her cancer is abating. Dr. Madeleine Kane, a visiting medical oncologist and hematologist from the University of Colorado Cancer Center inDenver, confirms at this July follow-up appointment that the outlook is excellent. Your tumor markers are all normal, Kane tells Carla Shawcroft, 65, a mother of four and grandmother of eight, who lives in Manassa, about 30 miles south of this clinic at the…
Student bloggers and live video streaming via the Internet will expand the reach of the sold-out Colorado Health Symposium, which runs Wednesday through Friday at the Keystone Conference Center. The agenda includes debates and discussions on health policy at both the national and regional levels. Live streaming of the forums will be broadcast via Ustream. Symposium Universityis designed to extend the content from the seminar into the classroom. Seven student bloggers will provide information throughout the three-day event. Comments are encouraged via Facebook and Twitter.