By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon In an ambitious new health agenda, Gov. John Hickenlooper is pledging to cut the number of uninsured people in Colorado by 520,000, prevent 150,000 Coloradans from becoming obese and reduce Medicaid costs by $280 million. Hickenlooper this week released a report called The State of Health as part of his commitment to make Colorado the healthiest state in the nation. We want to make sure that from the Eastern Plains to the San Juans, from rural communities to urban communities, that at any income, age, gender or ethnicity that everybody has the chance to live the…
Category: Featured - Part 8
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Despite outrage from some lawmakers who called review of Colorados health exchange a mockery, a bid for an additional $125 million in federal dollars is likely to move forward by next week. I would anticipate that we will sign off on this, said Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver. This (federal) money exists. If we dont take it, were going to have citizens picking up the costs for their premiums. Our goal is to have the most successful exchange in the country and this is part of that. Related: Governor adds deputy to health exchange board Mediator to…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Im blaming Francis Underwood. The soulless snake responsible for all evil in the nations Capitol on the Netflix hit, House of Cards, turned me into a couch potato this winter. Oh, and those Crawley sisters on Downton Abbey also messed up my metabolism. I was late to that party, so my daughter and I binged on three seasons of love, war and class intrigue, galloping from the sinking of the Titanic through World War I to the Roaring Twenties in a matter of weeks. Im a health writer so I try to monitor my wellness in…
By Diane Carman It was at the funeral of former teammate Lee Roy Selmon that Dave Stalls confronted his own mortality. Selmon, who played alongside Stalls on the defensive line of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1980s, died of a massive stroke on Sept. 4, 2011. He was 56, the same age as Stalls. As Stalls looked around at the mourners at the service, something struck him. None of the other members of that Tampa Bay starting defensive line was there. Many of them including the defensive line coach were dead. It gets really personal, said Stalls. Dave Stalls…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon The horror of 20 children being shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School shocked the nation and the world. But Colorado researchers who initially set out to study playground accidents found that gun violence is harming children every day. Very few people know about these gun injuries because federal law has prohibited funding for research on gun accidents and fatalities. The Colorado researchers combed through every single injury over an eight-year period at Denvers two primary trauma hospitals that serve children, Denver Health and Childrens Hospital Colorado. They expected to find information about playground injuries…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon A bill that would expand Medicaid to about 200,000 more low-income Coloradans continues to move through the Colorado legislature without support from Republicans in the House. Bill sponsor and House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, said Medicaid expansion would boost Colorados economy by $4.4 billion and add up to 22,000 jobs by 2026 while saving taxpayers money in the long run. Ferrandino sold Medicaid expansion as a measure that is winning support from Republican governors around the country. But in Colorado, members of the GOP are not biting. While no opponents spoke against the bill just like…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Sparring between Colorados Medicaid managers and those building the states new health exchange prompted an outside analyst to recommend a third party to triage and manage the project. A mediator from the New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation now will come to Colorado to help managers get the giant multi-million dollar project off the ground on time by Oct. 1 when its slated to open to consumers. Complicating tight launch deadlines is that Colorado lawmakers set up the states new online health insurance marketplace as an independent public entity, not a state agency. According to a…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Colorado is the only state in the country where three separate laws govern the actions of police, emergency doctors, mental health and substance abuse experts when patients appear to be a danger to themselves or others and need to be held against their will for 72 hours. A new law winding its way through the legislature, HB 13-1296, for the first time defines key terms related to involuntary holds including danger to self or others and what it means to be gravely disabled because of a mental health crisis. Originally intended to meld and clarify the…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver, withdrew her universal health care bill but has no intention of giving up the fight. This is Step One, Aguilar said. This is going to be a long process. Aguilar introduced a different measure calling for a study of universal care. That measure, SJR 13-021, passed the Senate and now moves to the House. Aguilar has twice introduced measures into the Colorado Legislature both in 2010 and this year seeking universal health care only to face a buzz saw of opposition from health insurance and business lobbyists. This year, Aguilar hoped to…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon As Adam Lanza fired 154 shots from a rifle, mowing down 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a group of gun control advocates and law enforcement officers happened to be meeting in Colorado to craft legislation to curb gun violence here. Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, who lost her son to a 2005 shooting, and Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, a former prosecutor and Denver manager of safety, both attended the Dec. 15 meeting. The news from Newtown, Conn., was fresh and shocking. Heartbreaking updates came in spurts on phones. No one knew…