Category: Health Care Industry - Part 9

Despite outrage, health exchange wants additional $125 million

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…

Opinion: Health care just around the corner

By Francis M. Miller Indeclaring Americanindependence, our founders sought to eliminate two perverse forms of tyranny that had ruled private lives for centuries. The monarchy and the church had become corrupt andwere oppressive. My great-great-grandfather immigrated from Poland. Peasants therewere not even allowed to pick up dead tree limbs for firewood. As Walter McDougall, the historian, wrote in Freedom Just Around the Corner, these medieval systems were never reformed. They werereplaced when the peasants dropped their hoes, walked out of the fields andboarded ships to America. The18th centurymindset of ourfounding fathers did not envision predatory global corporations or the massive…

Opinion: A role model inspires a model health care system

By Dr. Shelley Dworet Back in the 1960s when I first thought about becoming a pediatrician, I was in my mid-teens.I asked my own pediatrician, a woman who had known me since birth, if I could shadow her for a day. What an experience to watch her see patients at Brigham Women and Childrens Hospital in Boston, then follow her back to her elegant office in Brookline. Behind the closed doors of her private space, her desk was piled with charts and letters, and journals stacked on the floor and chairs.All at once, I didnt feel so guilty about the…

Fight for universal care just beginning

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…

Opinion: Looking out for No.1 in health

By Michele Lueck In college basketball, being No. 1 means winning the Final Four. In cinema, it means taking home an Oscar. But when it comes to Colorados health, being No. 1 could improve hundreds of thousands of lives and greatly benefit the local economy and business environment. Though Colorado already is No. 1 in certain measures (we have the leanest and most-active adult population of any state), the 2012 Colorado Health Report Card shows theres plenty of room for improvements. For example, were No. 31 among other states in prenatal care and No. 38 in childrens preventative dental care….

Opinion: Sending health care leaders back to school

By Edie Sonn Measuring outcomes in meaningful and consistent ways; giving providers incentives to improve; holding them accountable for their results. Comparing providers against their peers as well as against their own historical trend. Rewarding low-performers who improve, without penalizing high-performers that dont have as far to go. Making sense of a bewildering tangle of expectations and requirements. Thats the landscape of health care accountability, right? Yes, and its also the landscape of school accountability. Every single balancing act described above that lies at the heart of every discussion we have about paying for value in health care echoes the…

Opinion: Uninsured young adults: Are they really invincible?

By Emily King What comes to mind when you think of the term Young Invincible? You might picture a twenty-something, perhaps unemployed or underemployed. Maybe living in a parents basement, consuming an above-average amount of Ramen noodles. This twenty-something chooses not to purchase health insurance, the thinking goes, because getting sick is not something he or she can even picture a perceived invincibility and there are plenty of more fun things to buy. Findings from the 2011 Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS) suggest that last sentence isnt true for most young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 in…

Tech troubles could hobble health exchange

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Colorados health exchange is supposed to debut in just six months, but having the technology ready by Oct. 1 may be an impossible task. Critical problems threaten the system, ranging from a lack of coordination with the states technology office and historic problems with state IT systems to poor oversight by exchange managers and contractors and the potential for serious conflicts of interest among those charged with creating the complex multi-million dollar exchange system. Among the challenges are: The inability of health exchange managers to work directly with tech experts at Colorados Office of Information Technology…

Medicaid expansion bill advances without support of two Republicans

By Diane Carman The Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted Thursday to support Medicaid expansion in Colorado. And while no one appeared in the four-hour hearing to testify against the bill, SB 200, an exchange between Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, and representatives of the health insurance industry vividly illustrated why objections to expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act are waning in Colorado and across the country. I understand why the business community is trying to grasp onto short-term advantage by grabbing the federal cash, said Lundberg, fuming, but Obamacare is designed to shut the private sector down. I…

Opinion: Expansion of Medicaid a boon for low-income baby boomers

By Bob Semro The expansion of Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act will help thousands of Colorado families who lack insurance. Youve probably heard that. What you might not have heard is that the expansion will greatly benefit a large number of Colorados aging baby boomers. These are low-income residents between the ages of 50 and 64 who may be in great need of health care coverage but often are not be able to afford it. Senate Bill 200, which recently passed in the Colorado Senates Health and Human Services Committee by a bipartisan vote of 5-2, is the…