Expand Health Coverage

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF HEALTH CARE

The Future of Colorado Health Care: An Economic Forecast for Health Care in ColoradoThe Future of Colorado Health Care project is underway and will provide business and policy leaders, as well as other concerned Coloradans, with state-specific economic data and analysis to help them more fully understand and address the economic consequences of action – or inaction – on health reform. The project is being led by the New America Foundation Health Policy Program and The University of Denver's Center for Colorado's Economic Future, with support from The Colorado Trust and The Colorado Health Foundation. This undertaking will culminate in the fall 2009 release of the report The Future of Colorado Health Care: An Economic Forecast for Health Care in Colorado.

Already, the New America Foundation has estimated that in 2007 our state economy lost as much as $3.9 billion due to the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured, or nearly $4,900 per uninsured Coloradan. And, with each percentage point rise in unemployment, an estimated 19,000 more adults and 1,000 more children become uninsured, and thousands more are added to the roles of Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus. In today's economic climate, this means thousands of Coloradans don't have access to critical health services. At the same time, businesses are struggling to maintain their ability to provide adequate, affordable health care coverage to employees due to the rising costs of insurance.

This report will address the economic implications of doing nothing, the economic cost-benefit of health care coverage expansion, the economic value and cost of reforming the health care delivery system, and the net fiscal impact of health system reform on the state of Colorado.

For more information about the project, please contact Christie McElhinney, Vice President of Communications & Public Affairs, 303-837-1200, christie@coloradotrust.org.