Today is Tuesday, and even more important, today is 6.7 day.
That number is the biggest takeaway from the Colorado Health Access Survey, which found that the percentage of uninsured Coloradans had dropped to an historic low of 6.7 percent in 2015.
To celebrate 6.7 day, we’re launching a Twitter competition. Tweet your best photos of “6.7” in any fashion. Use the hashtag #6point7 to join the conversation.
Be creative! We decided on a dog-related 6.7 theme, for example. So this picture shows six Huxleys (the Golden Retriever who rules the roost at Manager of Creative Services Brian Clark’s house) and one Walter (the tiny Shih Tzu with the big personality who runs the show at Director of Research on Coverage and Access Jeff Bontrager’s house).
We’ll be keeping track of your 6.7 creations.
Meanwhile, the week began with some important news in the health policy world. The Colorado Division of Insurance released information on the proposed plans and premiums submitted by insurance companies for 2017.
Senior Communications Expert Joe Hanel, who has analyzed the rates for the past two years and written publications, quickly gathered the information and wrote a blog covering the highlights. We will publish a brief later today about the proposed rates as well. The Colorado Health Institute works to analyze data on important health policy topics in real time for our stakeholders.
Jeff and Sara Schmitt, Director of Community Health Policy, are excited to head east this week for the Colorado Capital Conference in Washington, D.C. It is hosted by Colorado’s senators, Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner, as well as Tim Foster, president of Colorado Mesa University, and Dorothy Horrell, chancellor of the University of Colorado Denver.
Jeff, Sara and the other attendees will hear from a host of dignitaries, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Also on the agenda: senators Cory Booker, Chuck Schumer, Tim Scott, Patrick Leahy and Marco Rubio; journalists Chuck Todd, Charlie Cook and William Kristol; and White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough.
In case you missed it, our Mapping Data A to Z is chugging along and we’ve reached the eighth letter of the alphabet: H. In this installment, Jeff focuses in on Health Literacy in Colorado. If you missed the first seven letters of the alphabet, catch up on our analyses of the most important take-aways from the CHAS.
This year’s legislative session was one for the books. And last week we published our annual Legislation in Review explaining key trends and the top health policy bills from the 2016 session. So if you missed any of Legislative Director and Policy Analyst Allie Morgan’s weekly blog updates, this is a quick way to get in the know.
May was mental health month. To wrap up a series of insights, Policy Analyst Tamara Keeney dove deep into 2015 CHAS data around mental health in Colorado with one question: Why aren’t some Coloradans getting the mental health care they need? Complete with an interactive graphic, Tamara takes us through five key indicators that are linked to mental health care barriers.
Policy Analyst Emily Johnson will be out and about this week giving two presentations. Monday night she presented to the board of the Boulder Community Hospital about health coverage and access among Colorado’s women. Thursday, she will meet with the Denver Medical Society to present on the subject of aid in dying and will facilitate a discussion around the topic.
Finally, summer has arrived and we are happy to bring in two new interns! Chrissy Esposito hails from CSU with a Master’s in Public Health along with significant GIS mapping experience. Zoe Wohlgenant just finished up her sophomore year Brown and studies health and human biology. They both fit in with CHI’s active culture: Chrissy loves road biking and comes to work every day on two wheels. Zoe plays Ultimate Frisbee and joined a mixed Colorado club team for the summer. Look for their work throughout the summer.