Colorado's health grades go up with age
Children fare worst; lack of insurance cited
Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News
Published October 18, 2007 at midnight
Colorado got mixed grades on an annual health report card released Wednesday, with children faring the worst, partly because of a lack of insurance.
The marks were higher for older residents, with the aging population scoring an A-minus but still showing room for improvement.
The report comes amid a statewide push to increase access to health care and insurance coverage, especially for young people.
"Contrary to popular belief . . . we're not the healthiest state in the nation," said Annie Wohlgenant of the Colorado Health Foundation, which funded the report. "While we're still the thinnest state in the nation, it's a fat nation."
Working-age adults received a B grade, but the report's authors say even that mark masks some worrisome trends.
Take the 18.4 percent obesity rate. The state's percentage of extremely overweight adults is the lowest in the country, but the rate has more than doubled since 1990.
In the infant category, the report showed that 21 percent of women don't get prenatal care until after the first trimester of their pregnancies. That puts the state in 39th place. With an 80 percent vaccination rate for preschoolers, the state ranks 28th.
"We could be doing a better job," said Reid Reynolds, senior research fellow at the Colorado Health Institute, which conducted the data analysis.
Officials blame, among others things, a lack of a significant investment in health care initiatives.
"We don't have an unlimited bucket of money," said Joan Henneberry, executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.
Henneberry said the focus has been too much on just "taking care of people when they get sick. We can't keep doing that."
(For the full report: go to www.coloradohealth.org.)
Mixed results
A sampling of results for five stages of life
Babies
• Grade: C-minus
• Notable: Lack of prenatal care; low birth weights and vaccination rates
Children under 12
• Grade: C-minus
• Notable: Low ranking for vigorous physical activity; lack of insurance, dental preventative care
Adolescents
• Grade: B-minus
• Notable: Lack of insurance and high binge drinking rates offset by high condom use, relatively low rate of sexual activity and low suicide rates
Working adults
• Grade: B
• Notable: Low rates for obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure; binge drinking, as well as a lack of insurance and health care provider, pull down the overall grade.
Elderly
• Grade: A-minus
• Notable: Flu shots and pneumonia vaccination put state in first place in this age group; good physical and mental healthSource: Colorado Health Foundation
kelleyj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5068
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