Health Insurance Coverage Important

Three of the life stages – Healthy Children, Healthy Adolescents and Healthy Adults – include an indicator showing the percent of Coloradans who do not have private or public health insurance. (It is not included in Healthy Aging because almost all adults 65 and over are covered by Medicare.) We have included these indicators because along with healthy behaviors, access to health care is a critical determinant of an individual’s overall health.

Why does Colorado rank so poorly in the indicators related to health coverage?
Most non-elderly Americans obtain coverage either through employer-sponsored or publicly-funded health insurance. Colorado has a slightly larger proportion of employees working in small firms which are less likely to offer health insurance. Also, Colorado's public programs, Medicaid and CHP+, have tighter eligibility requirements than many other states. Fewer low-income Coloradans participate in Medicaid than in most other states.

What are the other states doing differently that rank better than Colorado?
With the recent exception of Massachusetts, states do not require employers to offer health insurance to their employees. However, states do regulate the "small group and individual market" and can create policies that make offering insurance more or less attractive to small employers and their employees. Also, many state Medicaid and S-CHIP programs have less stringent eligibility requirements than Colorado's.