On Feb 11, the
Colorado Health Foundation released the
2009 Colorado Health Report Card, which includes an analysis of 38 key health indicators that reflect Colorado’s present state of health and portend its future.
This latest report card reveals some stark and surprising health disparities among age groups, with older Coloradans faring relatively well and children at greater risk.
The report card is divided into five groups: healthy beginnings, healthy children, healthy adolescents, healthy adults and healthy aging, for which each was assigned a grade based on the average of Colorado’s rank among states and specific goals set for each indicator by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in its
Healthy People 2010 initiative. The foundation found that overall health grades have not improved since 2006 when the foundation first issued the report card, while the overall grade for the category of healthy children dropped from a C- to a D+.
Why are children, in particular, doing so poorly?
There are a few interlocking factors, the foundation notes: Colorado’s ranking for childhood obesity went from three in 2003 to 23 in 2007, with 14 percent of Colorado’s children classified as obese. Meanwhile, around 127,000 (or 15 percent) of children 12 years and younger lived at or below the federal poverty level during 2006–2008, and approximately 120,000 children had no form of insurance during this same time period.
However, children from prenatal to birth are doing slightly better with a C grade, and adolescents pulled out a B-, showing relatively well by national standards on nutrition, mental health and sexual behaviors.
Interestingly, Colorado’s working-age adults are healthier than most in other states, according to the report card. This is, in part, because Colorado has the lowest rate of adult obesity in the country (although the obesity rate has doubled in fewer than 20 years). But health insurance coverage remains an issue, with one in five working-age adults in the state living without health insurance in 2007.
The report card also reveals that Colorado ranks in the bottom half of all states as far as adults having a regular source of medical care and binge drinking. And the report card found that low-income Coloradans and racial and ethnic minorities lag behind on most indicators.
The goods news from the report card is that Colorado scored in the top 10 on three of the six healthy aging indicators. People in Colorado are living longer and healthier lives, just as they are nationwide. But, according to the report card, Colorado's older adults also are more likely to engage in physical activity and they have the highest rate of flu and pneumonia vaccinations.
Gov. Bill Ritter and state lawmakers used the release of the report card to
announce new legislation that will strengthen Colorado’s health care system, focusing on cost-savings and efficiencies, improvements to public and private insurance programs, and better care for women.
Read the entire
2009 Colorado Health Report Card to learn more about the issues – and the solutions to Colorado's health challenges.
Check out
rmpbs.org/health for real-life health care stories, blogs and resources.
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