By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon People living in resort areas of Colorado will have to pay higher health insurance rates than those in other regions when plans start being sold through the states health exchange on Oct. 1. An average 40-year-old non-smoker living in a resort area who is buying a mid-level silver plan could be charged a base rate as high as $667 per month compared to the least expensive silver plan for a comparable 40-year-old in Greeley, whose base rate would be about $232 per month. Shoppers will also be able to choose from lower level bronze plans and…
Category: Featured - Part 5
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Colorados Division of Insurance has approved 242 plans from 13 carriers for the states health exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, which is slated to open on Oct. 1. Deputy Insurance Commissioner Peg Brown briefed members of Colorados health exchange board on Monday on plans that her department has reviewed and approved. Were very pleased with the number of carriers and plans. It represents a wide variety of choice for the Connect for Health marketplace and healthy competition in the Colorado insurance marketplace overall, Brown said. Of the approved plans, 150 are targeted at individuals while 92…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Just seven weeks before the Oct. 1 launch of Colorados health exchange, managers said that their IT systems are not getting accurate data from state Medicaid systems, prompting a warning to board members Monday. Adele Work, the project manager who leads technology for Connect for Health Colorado, shifted her readiness estimate for synching with state systems from yellow, meaning cautiously moving forward,to red, meaning not ready. She highlighted her concerns Monday that state IT systems may not properly communicate with the exchange systems by Oct. 1. Work said shes prepared to shift to contingency plans on…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon KEYSTONE Best known for beating brilliant humans at Jeopardy, Watson, the super computer, soon may be coming to a hospital or insurance company near you. But dont call him (or her) Dr. Watson. The more appropriate reference may be to Sherlock Holmes my dear Watson, the indispensable right-hand man or woman as Lucy Liu now portrays Dr. Joan Watson in the re-imagined TV show, Elementary. IBMs Watson is actually named to honor the companys founder, Thomas J. Watson. But as Watsons creators dream up future roles for their intelligent machine medical sleuth, patient watchdog and reading…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon KEYSTONE If Silicon Valley venture capitalists were trying to fix broken health care systems, they would invest in multiple solutions at once and expect most to fail. But they would take action. That was the message from Rebecca Costa, an evolutionary biologist and a keynote speaker at the Colorado Health Symposiumsponsored by the Colorado Health Foundation. In nature, diversification ensures survival. In health care, Costa sees big organizations that want to meet endlessly, hold focus groups, then move tentatively, if at all, as they embark on singular solutions destined to fail at a glacial pace. Singularity…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon KEYSTONE Colorado faces daunting challenges in providing a healthy environment for both its oldest and youngest citizens, according to a new report from the Colorado Health Institute. The report, Reaching Our Peak: Creating a Healthier Colorado, assesses how Colorado rates in five major areas that affect health: schools, workplaces, communities, medical providers and places where we age. The Colorado Health Institute unveiled the report at this weeks Colorado Health Symposium, a gathering of state and national health leaders sponsored by the Colorado Health Foundation. Colorado scores lowest for healthy aging, according to the reports authors who…
By Diane Carman While some researchers are celebrating what they see as a new, positive trend toward declining obesity rates among low-income preschool children in a report released this week, James O. Hill is skeptical. Too many toddlers are obese, said Hill, executive director of the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center. Thats the bottom line. These are very tiny numbers that are bouncing around, he said. I struggle to say there are any real trends here. The report, Vital signs: Obesity Among Low-Income, Preschool-Age Children United States, 2008-2011, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that small but…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Two ritzy resort counties in Colorado have made a list of the 50 worst counties in the U.S. for working people who are living without health insurance. Eagle County, home to swanky Vail and Beaver Creek, ranked 42nd worst among U.S. counties with nearly 29 percent of people who earn between 138 and 400 percent of the poverty level surviving without health insurance. Garfield County, home to many service workers for Aspen in neighboring Pitkin County, also made the list. Garfield ranked 48th worst in the U.S. with about 28.5 percent of working people lacking health…
By Diane Carman For bicyclists, the rewards from improved physical fitness and stress release to the minimal commuting costs are obvious. So are the risks. Former Gov. Bill Ritter, an avid cyclist, suffered broken ribs after colliding with another bicyclist on one of his regular morning rides in 2010. Then-President George W. Bush attended his daughters engagement party sporting cuts, scrapes and a bandage on his chin after crashing on his mountain bike on his Texas ranch in 2004. Author Stephen Covey died last year at the age of 79 of complications from injuries incurred in a bike wreck in…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon The Affordable Care Act may leave many of the poor and people of color behind. Thats the view of this years president of the American Public Health Association,Dr. Adewale Troutman, who spoke in Denver last week. We are trying to incorporate 30 million people into a health care insurance system that is broken. The system is fragmented. Inequalities flourish and prevention is an afterthought, Troutman said during an event on health equity sponsored by The Colorado Trust. The system doesnt necessarily change just because you have more people in it, he said. While the Affordable Care…