By Adela Flores-Brennan and Gretchen Hammer The legislature recently sent a bill to the governor that represents a step in the wrong direction for Colorados children. SB 213 creates monthly premiums in the Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) program for kids who have family incomes between 206 percent and 250 percent of poverty. These are families of four who earn about $46,000 to $56,000 a year. As a matter of public policy and as a matter of fiscal policy, SB 213 makes little sense and is indeed harmful. The bill will add to the number of uninsured children in Colorado,…
Category: Archived - Part 16
By Steve ErkenBrack The complexity of purchasing health insurance has become almost overwhelming. What will you need? Whats a fair price? Is the lowest price the best value? How can you evaluate the quality of coverage? Large employers have human resources departments to sort through the maze of choices, but no such help exists to simplify the choices for individuals and small employers. Brokers do a terrific job, but the panoply of options and the uniqueness of each consumer defy simplification. For that reason, every serious health care reform effort in recent years has recommended the development of a health…
By Bob Semro The latest buzzword among those determined to undermine federal involvement in everything from health care to environmental regulation is compact. Take, for example, House Bill 1273 (the so-called HOPE Act), which recently passed the Colorado House and will be heard in the Senate early this week. It is supposed to be about allowing Colorado to design the health care regulatory regime that best meets the needs of its citizens. In reality, its about opting out of the national health care reform law with nothing to replace it. The idea for HB 1273 didnt originate in Colorado, and…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Colorado’s health insurance exchange bill is sailing toward final approval with backers hailing the measure as the only successful bipartisan exchange legislation in the country. The measure garnered initial approval in Colorado’s Republican-controlled House on Tuesday evening. It will need final approval in both the House and Senate, but backers are confident that they will win final passage on what they’re calling “landmark legislation.” Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper’s aides quietly have muscled lawmakers into supporting the bill behind the scenes and the governor is expected to sign the measure. An unprecedented bipartisan coalition of business advocates, health…
By Lois M. Collins SALT LAKE CITY, Utah Sharon Opfermann wanted to provide health insurance for the handful of full-time staff members at the doggy day care and boarding business she operates in South Salt Lake, but it wasnt very easy to pull off. The one-size-fits-all plan she first picked didnt serve each employee equally well. And it was expensive. When she got a chance to enroll her business, Camp Bow Wow, in the Utah Health Exchange a couple of months ago, she jumped at it. Shes paying the same amount toward employee health benefits, but each member of her…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Colorados health insurance exchange bill is sailing toward final approval with backers hailing the measure as the only successful bipartisan exchange legislation in the country. The measure garnered initial approval in Colorados Republican-controlled House on Tuesday evening. It will need final approval in both the House and Senate, but backers are confident that they will win final passage on what theyre calling landmark legislation. Democratic Gov. John Hickenloopers aides quietly have muscled lawmakers into supporting the bill behind the scenes and the governor is expected to sign the measure. An unprecedented bipartisan coalition of business advocates,…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon FORT LUPTON – A clinic with roots caring for migrant farm workers in an old onion shed offers one of the most sophisticated models in Colorado for integrating mental health with primary care. “If you come to my health center, your chances of also seeing a mental health counselor are great,” said Dr. Tillman Farley, medical services director for Salud Family Health Centers. “Wall Street bankers don’t get the care that we give our patients.” The mental health counselors don’t wait for a doctor or other health provider to invite them into a patient’s room. They see all…
By Donald J. Mares It is no secret that there is a strong connection between the mind and body. Religious leaders, philosophers, doctors and many others have discussed the mind/body connection for centuries. Yet the treatment of mental and physical health has been compartmentalized in modern Western medicine. In the United States, there are two systems of care: the behavioral health system and the physical health system. These systems are perpetuated through insurance reimbursements, through laws, medical education and many other cultural and social institutions. The distinction between mental and physical health is both a product and promoter of the…
By Molly Maher Just a little more than a week after World TB Day, an active case of tuberculosis has been confirmed at the University of Colorado Denver. After the student, whose identity is being kept private, was diagnosed, an unconfirmed number of students, staff and faculty who were at risk of contracting tuberculosis were notified and encouraged to get tested, CU Denver spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery confirmed. This is the second case of active tuberculosis in the past 12 months reported to Health Center at Auraria. This compares to a record high of four active cases in 2000. Dr. Randall…
By Zeik Saidman We lied, kidnapped, abandoned and then manacled and drugged my mother-in-law. At least this is the way my wife describes the experience of placing her mother in a nursing home. True, we did use the therapeutic fib (Alzheimers experts use this concept) to lure her to the nursing home facility. We told my mother-in-law that she was going to visit with the nice man who had come to her home to talk about senior services in the area. In actuality, he was the director of the Alzheimers unit and his visit was to conduct an assessment for…