Hey there, Colorado, and welcome to another edition of The Temperature, where this week we will begin with a question for you:
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We’ll keep delivering news and information that informs your life in climate and health, with a great (and free!) example tonight at our 6 p.m. online panel on “The New Car Culture.” Don’t let the title fool you, our panel gets into everything from bike lanes to flying cars to ensuring women who buy EVs have a safe public place to charge them.
Now, let’s turn to the news, where we have details about a new proposal for regulation of social media in Colorado to promote better mental health.
Reporter
TEMP CHECK
HEALTH
Can Colorado regulate social media to better protect kids’ mental health?
Lawmakers in Colorado are poised to introduce a bill that will crack down on social media companies and require them to show young users warnings about the harms of social media use, according to an advocacy group that backs the effort.
Kyle Piccola, the vice president of communications and advocacy for Healthier Colorado, said the bill would require social media platforms to show in-app warnings to youth in Colorado with “information and resources about the harms of social media” after one hour of continuous use. The warnings will repeat every hour and more frequently at night. The bill would require warnings to be shown to social media users ages 13 through 17.
A second section of the bill would require the state Department of Education to develop a resource bank with research and other information on how social media use impacts mental health, brain development and overall well-being. This information would be publicly available, allowing parents, teachers and young people to learn more about the effects of frequent social media use.
Piccola and Alexis Alltop, Healthier Colorado’s policy manager, said the bill was written to track what social media companies are already doing with opt-in screen time reminders. For that reason, they hope the bill avoids the fierce opposition and subsequent litigation that have beset other states’ attempts to regulate social media.
“We feel we have taken a really common sense approach,” Piccola said. “This is not going to impact them as much as some of the other policies proposed in the past.”
Still, he said he doesn’t know where social media companies stand on the proposal.
The proposal comes as a new poll, commissioned by Healthier Colorado, shows widespread concern in Colorado for social media’s impacts on the mental health of young people and broad support for policies to rein in the platforms.
In the poll, which surveyed more than 900 registered Colorado voters last month, 88% of people said they believe there is a youth mental health crisis and 82% of people said they believe social media has a negative impact on youth mental health.
When asked whether they would support a state law to impose requirements on social media platforms to prevent adverse mental health effects, 75% of people said yes. The concept drew strong majority support across all age groups and income levels, from Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters and from parents and nonparents.
“This is just overwhelming,” said pollster David Flaherty, who conducted the survey with a second pollster, Chris Keating. “I also feel that people do not believe this is an undue burden.”
Piccola said he expects the bill to be introduced as soon as this week.
Section by John Ingold | Reporter
CORRECTION: In last week’s newsletter, we wrote in a headline that Aidan Hettler’s job as CEO of the Sedgwick County Health Center is his first job after college. This was incorrect. It is his second job after college. You can read the full story on CEO turnover at rural Colorado hospitals here.
INSURANCE
Colorado had a record-busting open enrollment period
249,592
The number of people enrolling in an insurance plan for 2024 through the state’s two exchanges
With a large number of people losing Medicaid coverage as the state churns through eligibility renewals, this year’s open enrollment period figured to be a big one in Colorado.
It did not disappoint.
When the annual open enrollment window closed earlier this month for people who buy insurance on their own, nearly 250,000 people had signed up for a plan through one of the state’s two health insurance exchanges.
That number includes 237,107 people who signed up via Connect for Health Colorado, the exchange where people who are eligible for federal subsidies can shop for coverage. That’s nearly 18% more people than signed up during the 2023 open enrollment window, and it marks a record for the exchange.
Of those who signed up on Connect for Health, 77% are receiving financial assistance.
In a statement, Connect for Health CEO Kevin Patterson said he is elated with the number.
“We’ll be digging into our open enrollment data to see what exactly is driving this increase in sign-ups shortly,” he said.
The remaining 12,485 people included in the enrollment figure signed up through Colorado Connect, a separate exchange where people who are living in the country without legal immigration status can shop for coverage and potentially receive state-funded subsidies. (More on this in the chart section below.)
This is the second year for the insurance program, known as OmniSalud. The 2024 enrollment figure is about 20% higher than last year’s, after state officials increased the number of subsidized spots available by 1,000.
Lastly, Colorado Option plans saw a big jump in enrollment. There were 80,655 people who signed up for a Colorado Option plan for 2024, accounting for about a third of all plan selections. That’s up from 13% of plan selections in 2023.
Section by John Ingold | Reporter
MORE HEALTH NEWS
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ENVIRONMENT
Baking turns from gas pipelines to electric avenue
Can an electric oven crisp up that restaurant pizza crust to old-country standards?
Will an induction cooktop sear that aged T-bone to please a steakhouse crowd?
Chef Andy Forlines, former Broadmoor apprentice and current restaurant consultant, is prepped to convince fellow foodies both answers are “yes,” and that it’s time for more commercial cooks to give up the gas.
Electrification of restaurant kitchens is a next-level effort in the movement to sharply reduce fossil fuel use across all sectors of the American economy. Utilities and cars were the first wave of electrification, and now green advocates and industrial innovators want to see faster adoption of electric home heat pumps, water heaters and cooking appliances formerly run on gas.
A project called Electric Avenue, from the progressive retail coalition Good Business Colorado, is helping commercial and retail kitchens learn how to give up natural gas, and how to change cooking methods to capitalize on the advantages of electric. Forlines taught a class during the National Western Stock Show in the demo kitchen at Colorado State University’s Spur campus.
“It’s educating people up to realize that they’re not giving up anything,” Forlines said. “Heat is heat. The food doesn’t really care what the source is.”
Bakers say electric ovens can be much closer to instant-on than older gas models that sometimes take hours to reach full heat; some bakeries leave their gas ovens running 24 hours to avoid down time.
New electric ovens are part of programmable systems that can improve a large kitchen’s workflow in dishes that have multiple stages or need to stay warm, Forlines said. The computerized, clean-electric models may in themselves be pricier than a comparable gas appliance, Forlines added, but revamping a kitchen offers savings. Electric over gas can eliminate the need for expensive, massive exhaust hoods that combine with mandated fire-control systems.
Electric appliances can be 95% efficient in transferring energy into usable heat, Forlines said, compared with 35% in many gas appliances.
Just as plumbers and HVAC suppliers need information on heat pumps and rebates, restaurateurs and chefs need help with electric cooking techniques and equipment costs, Forlines said.
And everyone, from the entrepreneur to the customer, must have an open mind, Forlines said.
People can adapt quickly to electric cars, smartphones and smartwatches, he said. But when it comes to the comforts of cooking and food, he said, “there seems to be kind of a backward-looking view as well. Gas is traditional, and it’s what we like and what we see.”
We’ll be talking in coming days with electric adopters in the food world, including Sexy Pizza and Rebel Bread, and will bring you more of their electric-chef insights at ColoradoSun.com.
Section by Michael Booth | Reporter
MORE ENVIRONMENT NEWS
CHART OF THE WEEK
We told you above about Colorado’s record-breaking open enrollment season. Here’s another way to look at it.
After years of relatively flat growth, the past four years have seen a steady increase in health insurance sign-ups via Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s insurance exchange. That increase is even more prominent when including the impact of Colorado Connect — the portal where immigrants living in the country without legal status can sign up for subsidized coverage through the OmniSalud program.
It’s important to note that enrollment for OmniSalud’s subsidies is capped at 11,000 — to be eligible for subsidies, people must make less than 150% of the federal poverty level, or less than $45,000 per year for a family of four. Because of these caps, spending on OmniSalud is not tied to the level of immigration and the slightly increased enrollment in the program this year over last has little-to-nothing to do with the influx of migrants Colorado and other states have seen.
Money for OmniSalud’s subsidies come from the Colorado Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise, which is funded by a fee on health insurance companies and hospitals. Money from the enterprise also goes to fund the state’s reinsurance program and to provide enhanced subsidies to people also eligible for federal subsidies through Connect for Health.
Section by John Ingold | Reporter
HEAT MAP
CLIMATE
HEALTH
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’Til next week.
— John & Michael
Corrections & Clarifications
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