Healthcare
Healthcare in La Plata County
"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." -Martin Luther King Jr.
Upcoming Events.
LWVCO Healthcare Actions.
Member Letters.
News Items.
Healthcare References.
Past Events.
Upcoming Events
LWVCO Healthcare Actions
*5/5/08: LWV-Colorado has recently joined with Health Care for All Colorado in a grassroots effort to achieve guaranteed, affordable access to high quality health care for all, specifically a single payer system. Other large organizations in the new coalition are the CO Nurses Association and the Colorado Education Association. See the website healthcareforallCO for details on the bills supported, lobbying efforts, January 31 rally at the capitol and outreach efforts.
LWVCO is also lobbying for bills in the Legislature for expanding coverage and addressing cost controls.
Linda Mahan
LWVCO Board director
LWV Larimer County, CO Health Care Team chair
*1/31/2008: The 208 Blue Ribbon Healthcare Commission presented its final report to the Colorado General Assembly today.
*1/9/2008: The LWVCO Board voted to endorse efforts of Health Care for All Colorado (HCAC) in working for single payer financed universal health care that is affordable and guaranteed. The League will join with HCAC and other organizations such as the Colorado Nurses Association and the Colorado Education Association to call upon the Colorado Legislature to move Colorado towards a fair and sustainable system of health care reform.
Letters from our Members
*Feb 2008: The following Healthcare Survey Summary, Taking the Pulse of Healthcare, author: Debra Bennett-Woods, appeared in the Feb 2008 Greeley/Weld VOTER, click survey
*11/28/07: Status Letter on Healthcare from LWV - Colorado - Linda Mahan, click LWVCO Healthcare
*9/7/07: Upcoming JSI Community Input Session on Healthcare - Jill Patton, click Letter to the Editor September 7
News Items
*5/1/08 New congressional report says Wyden-Bennett health plan would pay for itself, StarTribune.com, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
*4/29/08 Study Warns Job Losses Will Strain Government Health Programs, New York Times, By KEVIN SACK
*4/29/08 AMERICANS RANK HEALTH CARE NEAR THE TOP OF THEIR ECONOMIC WOES, NEW POLL FINDS, Kaiser Family Foundation
*4/23/08 Dems Hedge on Healthcare, Kaiser Family Foundation, contributed by Manu Raju
*4/16/08 Former senators tackle health issues seattlepi.com, By KEVIN FREKING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
*4/10/08 By Joe Hanel, Herald Denver Bureau: Lawmakers want to ask companies for health insurance for all in state Senators took a small step toward a universal health-insurance system Wednesday. A Senate panel voted to ask private insurance companies to set up cheap, basic health plans in the next two years. By 2010, the Legislature could vote on requiring every Coloradan to buy some form of health insurance, with subsidies for people who can't afford a basic policy.
to read the complete story, click DH4-10
*3/25/08 Denver Post, Study: one Coloradan dies each day due to no health insurance, The Associated Press The report by the New York-based Families USA is based on a national study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. The report says people without health insurance often forgo checkups and other preventive care and are more likely to be diagnosed with a disease in the advanced stages. The study found that between 2000 and 2006, an estimated 2,100 adults in Colorado between 25 and 64 died because they didn't have health insurance.
*3/2/08: New York Times Week in Review, Coming Soon: Health Care Debate, Part 2, Kevin Sack The skirmishing between the Democratic presidential candidates over the mechanics of universal health coverage will soon give way to a quite different general-election debate -- about whether universal coverage should even be a national priority. For a view of the full article, click NYT3/2/08
*3/2/2008: Durango Herald opinion piece by Lynn Westberg, Directing Health Care, A system under pressure needs "individual mandate " reform. For the article, click DH3/2/08
*2/26/2008: Health-care spending to beat inflation,
Kevin Freking, The Associated Press By 2017, consumers and taxpayers will spend more than $4 trillion on health care, accounting for $1 of every $5 spent, the federal government projects. For the entire article, click AP2-26
*2/14/2008, Gov. Bill Ritter has announced his reduced plan for healthcare reform. His plan calls for spending $25M out of the current budget to extend health insurance to 45,000 uninsured children in Colorado within three years. For additional info, click DH 2-14-08
*11/14/2007, Durango Herald: Gov. Bill Ritter's Blue Ribbon Commission on Healthcare came to Durango on 11/13/07 and reiterated what many already know: Solving the state's healthcare crisis won't be easy. For more information, click Ritter's 208 Commission Seeks Answers
*11/11/2007, Durango Herald: $300,000 Grant helps health care in the county but is not a cure-all. For more information, click Mercy Foundation grant
*11/8/2007, Durango CO: The Mercy Health Foundation is scheduled to receive $300,000 from a congressional appropriations bill toward construction and equipping of a 50,000 square-foot community health clinic in Durango. For more information, click Mercy Health
Healthcare References
* Health Action New Mexico Working for affordable, accessible, accountable health care for all people living in New Mexico
*4/23/08 Forrester's First Look At Healthcare Consumers, Forrester Research
*April 14, 2008:What Role Will Health Care Play As the General Election Unfolds?,Kaiser Family Foundation, Health08.org
to read the entire spotlight article, click kaiser-Apr
*New England Journal of Medicine, Market-Based Failure -- A Second Opinion on US Healthcare Costs
*Consumer Health Initiative Community Update, click CHI
*Health 08 - The Kaiser Family Foundation, click Health08 for info concerning the proposed health plans for all the 2008 Presidential candidates.
* Robert Wood Johnson Foundation A private foundation improving the health and health care of all americans
* The Bridge to a Healthier New Year, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, January 2008
* The Commonwealth Fund A Private Foundation Working Toward a High Performance Health System
*January 2008 Commonwealth Fund Health Care Survey, The Public's Views on Health Care Reform in the 2008 Presidential Election, click healthcare survey Note: a summary of this survey can be found in the section above, click healthcare summary
*1/31/2008 CNN, as part of its ongoing "Broken Government" series, presented a Healthcare in Crisis special moderated by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is chief medical correspondent for the health and medical unit at CNN. A board-certified neurosurgeon, Gupta is a member of several organizations, including the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Do Something Foundation, Healing the Children Foundation, the Council of Foreign Relations and the Brain Foundation. He serves as a diplomat of the American Board of Neurosurgery and is a certified medical investigator.
Click
CNN 1-31-08 to view analysis and videos on these topics:
Health Care in the U.S.
How healthy is California? video (3:16)
GOP candidates' health plans video (3:15)
Bankrupt with health insurance video (2:13)
Tips to effectively battle your insurance company
Election Center 2008: Candidates on health care
Conditions and procedures: How much do you know?
Picking the right hospital can save your life
*"Federal Health Coverage Programs: Building Blocks for Coverage of the Uninsured", Diane Rowland and Adele Shartzer, LWVUS National Voter, February 2008, click Cure for the Uninsured
*1/30/2008 "First Look at Shifting Healthcare Priorities", Forrester Healthcare, click First Look
*for more information regarding the 2008 Presidential candidates and their positions on healthcare, click POTUS health positions 2008
*for information regarding current La Plata County Healthcare Consultants, click John Snow Inc
*for information regarding the Citizens Health Advisory Council of La Plata County, click CHAC
Past Events
*3/10/08: San Juan Basin Health Department and San Juan Citizen's Alliance will host a Public Forum entitled
Colorado Healthcare: Crisis and Reform.
The forum, sponsored by the Colorado Progressive Coalition, will be held from 5:30 to 7:30pm at the Durango Rec Center and is open to the general public. All attendees will have the opportunity to hear about health care reform efforts underway in Colorado and to share their thoughts about the direction of health care efforts in our state.
To view a flier of this event, click healthcare forum
*1/31/2008: One of the first joint LWVCO and HCAC events for this emerging grassroots coalition (see article below) will be a rally on Thursday, January 31 in Denver. On that day the 208 Commission Report is scheduled to be presented to the Legislature at 12 noon in the Old Supreme Court chambers.
*9/24/07 JSI Healthcare Community Input Session - Ignacio-Bayfield-Durango.
For slides from this presentation click 9/24 JSI slides
For text from this presentation click 9/24 JSI text
If you were unable to attend one of these sessions and would like to provide input, you may send comments no later than Oct 8 to Pat Murphy, Chairman PHCCC at pat@patmurphymotors.com
*10/10/07 Blue Ribbon Healthcare Commission Community Input Session - Durango. For more information click flier
Note that the location of this meeting has changed from the Durango Rec Center to The Double Tree Hotel, Mesa Verde La Plata Room, 501 Camino Del Rio, Durango
To view the opening statement by Jill Patton, healthcare focus for LWV of La Plata County, click CO LWV 208 position
For a summary of the Blue Ribbon Healthcare Commission session in Durango, click 208 summary 10/10/07
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Last revised: July 16, 2008 14:34 PDT.
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