NEW STUDY EXPLORES HEALTH CARE AFFORDABILITY
 The Colorado Center on Law and Policy (CCLP), together with Colorado Voices for Coverage – whose members include the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative (CCHI), Business Health Forum, Colorado Council of Churches and Colorado Progressive Coalition – released their report, The Cost of Care: Can Coloradans Afford Health Care. Co-funded by The Colorado Trust, the report explores questions about health care affordability in Colorado. The study findings shows that many Colorado families have little or nothing left at the end of each month to pay for health care and, in many cases, health care costs force families to make financial tradeoffs with other necessary expenses such as food, housing or utilities.
The study is based on research resulting from nearly 100 community budget workshops conducted throughout Colorado in which approximately 1,000 families under 500% of the federal poverty level (FPL) were surveyed.
Following the release of the study in Denver, Dede de Percin, CCHI Executive Director and Liz Feder, CCLP Health Policy Analyst, met with key Congressional staff members in Washington, DC to discuss the study’s findings. During the summer, Colorado Voices for Coverage will also host health care affordability forums in 11 communities across the state to share the results of the study, update community members on national health care reform proposals, and provide education on advocacy and how to engage in the ongoing reform conversation.
For more information, please contact Christie McElhinney, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, or Ed Lucero, Senior Program Officer, at 303-837-1200.
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