Colorado is headed toward joining more than a dozen other states that have banned vaping anywhere smoking is already prohibited. It’s the latest effort by state lawmakers to help Colorado shed its rank as the No. 1 state for U.S. teen e-cigarette use. “The reason that we are doing this — besides the fact that […]
Health
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Politics and Government
A state board wouldn’t approve a major report accusing Colorado hospitals of shifting costs onto people with private insurance
Hospital representatives on a little-known state Medicaid board revolted Tuesday and refused to endorse a government report that argues Colorado hospitals have reaped billions of dollars in extra revenues by ratcheting up prices on people with private insurance. The report, released in draft form last month by the state’s Department of Health Care Policy and […]
Posted inColoradans, Health, News, Politics and Government
Cigarettes all over again? Colorado has the highest youth vaping rate in the country.
Jim Lynch mastered the fake yawn, stretching out his arm and bringing it to his mouth during class, then pausing to pull a drag from the Juul tucked up the sleeve of his sweatshirt. The high school junior held the vapor in his mouth for 10 seconds, waiting for it to evaporate before he took […]
Posted inGrowth, Health, News, Politics and Government
Immigrants here illegally were waiting until near death to get dialysis. A new Colorado policy changes that.
People whose kidneys have failed typically hook up to dialysis machines three times a week, flushing fluids and toxins from their blood. It’s how they avoid heart failure and death. But for those without health insurance who are living in the country illegally, that hasn’t been an option in Colorado and most other states. Instead, […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News
Cordillera resort to reopen as tony drug-treatment facility for “seriously underserved population” — the wealthy
EDWARDS — They are already gathering in the quiet room, where a glass wall reveals the arresting New York Mountain. Sitting in a circle of chairs, the therapists at All Points North Lodge are counseling the ailing as dozens of workers next door scramble to build a one-of-a-kind addiction treatment facility in the heart of […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
A push to fix Colorado’s lowest-in-the-nation vaccine rates has an unexpected critic: Jared Polis
A series of measles outbreaks in the U.S. is putting a spotlight on the state with the lowest rate of vaccinations in the nation: Colorado. Less than 89 percent of the state’s kindergarten-aged children have received the vaccines needed to prevent illnesses such as measles, mumps, whooping cough and chickenpox — far below the national […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Health, News
GMO food labels are coming. But with most products already using modified ingredients, battle lines have shifted.
While you were eating, some of the biggest controversies over genetically modified foods have largely been settled. At least nine out of 10 kernels of corn grown in Colorado are GMO, as are 98 percent of the sugar beets and much of the alfalfa, canola and other commodity foods. Modified potatoes that can better handle […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Health, News, Politics and Government
Few Colorado workers get paid time off to care for a new baby or sick family member. Changing that is a key goal for Democrats.
When Christine Levi thinks about her “maternity leave” after having her baby girl, she starts to stress out all over again. Levi, who was working as a paralegal for a small, downtown Denver law firm, resumed work the same day she left the hospital. She had zero days of paid leave and thought that if […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Summit County health care prices force families to make desperate decisions. A new plan for how consumers buy coverage could change that.
FRISCO — To Devon Howe-Czar, it was a nightmare scenario: A few weeks ago, one of her twin 7-year-old daughters fell while skiing. She was raced down the hill on a toboggan to a nurse’s station at the base, but from there Howe-Czar had to make a choice that confronts far too many families living […]
Posted inColoradans, Health, News, Politics and Government
Polis taps Food Bank of the Rockies leader to head state human services; promotes deputy to director at Personnel Administration
Gov. Jared Polis’ office announced two new executive directors for state government Friday, leaving one cabinet position open a month after taking office. Food Bank of the Rockies interim president Michelle Barnes will become executive director of the Colorado Department of Human Services, which oversees the state’s child welfare division, youth corrections and mental hospitals. […]