CCLP, CCHI Go to Washington

As the health care reform debate intensifies in Washington, congressional staffers looked to Colorado for guidance on key components of reform. Colorado Center on Law and Policy (CCLP) Health Analyst Liz Feder and Colorado Consumer Health Initiative (CCHI) Executive Director Dede de Percin met with key congressional staff members last week in Washington, D.C. to discuss the findings of a new report—The Cost of Care: Can Coloradans Afford Health Care—from the CCLP and Colorado Voices for Coverage.

The report, which was released in April, shows that many Colorado families have little or nothing left at the end of each month to pay for health care, and, in many cases, health care costs force families to make financial tradeoffs with other necessary expenses, such as housing, education, child care, or savings.

“This was a great opportunity to convey the challenges Colorado families face to federal policymakers,” said Feder. “One of the key findings is that there is so much variation among what families can afford that no single dollar amount or uniform percentage can adequately account for what’s affordable—meaning we need flexibility when it comes to affordability.”

“All across Colorado, we saw families struggling to pay crushing health care costs, and in many cases, foregoing otherwise vital needs to pay for health care,” said de Percin. “Lawmakers need to know that that many households just don’t have the dollars necessary to pay for insurance.”

CCLP and CCHI were joined by Gordon Duvall from Metro Organizations for People (MOP), as well as advocates from four other states who are also briefing congressional staff members. The briefing was coordinated by Community Catalyst, a national nonprofit organization committed to health care reform, and PICO, a national faith-based organizing initiative.