One of every six Coloradans lacks health insurance, survey finds

One of every six Coloradans has no health insurance – a figure that has grown more than 20 percent in the past two years, a new statewide survey finds.

In addition, more workers lack health insurance and fewer Coloradans reported having a regular place to go when they’re sick or need health care advice.

“We’ve lost ground,” said Ned Calonge, who recently left his post as chief medical officer at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to become president and chief operating officer at The Colorado Trust, a foundation focused on improving Coloradans’ access to health.

Calonge presented the results Tuesday of the Colorado Health Access Survey, a statewide survey of more than 10,000 households sponsored every two years by The Colorado Trust and administered by the nonprofit Colorado Health Institute.

Growing health insurance costs, the weak economy and high unemployment are the likely causes for the negative trends, said Michelle Lueck, who heads the Colorado Health Institute.

The trends should worry both health care consumers and policymakers, Calonge and Lueck said.

Nearly 830,000 Coloradans lack health insurance – an increase of 150,000 people since 2009.

“It would be as if the entire city of Grand Junction lost health insurance all at once, or as if all the cities on the Arkansas River suddenly had no health insurance,” Calonge said of the increase. “It’s a serious issue.”

Add to that the number of underinsured Coloradans and nearly one in three state residents is affected. People are considered underinsured when they have insurance but can’t afford out-of-pocket costs that amount to at least 10 percent of their income – or 5 percent for those living in poverty.

That means some 1.5 million Coloradans are either uninsured or underinsured – about as many people as live in Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and Grand Junction combined.

Lueck said it would be difficult to estimate an exact cost for the growing numbers of uninsured in the state. However, a 2009 University of Denver study estimated Colorado lost between $1.8 billion and $3.9 billion in productivity and lost work hours because of uninsured workers’ illnesses and untreated conditions.

The new data reveal health insurance disparities among certain populations in Colorado. For example, while census figures show 20 percent of the state’s population is Hispanic, they make up more than 33 percent of the uninsured.

The highest rates of uninsured are in western Colorado, where Mesa County was the only area that didn’t top 20 percent uninsured. Officials say the large number of small employers and seasonal workers on the Western Slope leaves many uninsured.

In eastern Colorado, only two regions topped 20 percent uninsured. Those were the Denver-Adams County area, and the region that includes the counties of Elbert, Lincoln, Kit Carson and Cheyenne.

Douglas County had the lowest rate of uninsured in the state, with 7 percent, followed by Boulder County at 9 percent.

Cost was by far the top reason people are uninsured, the survey found. Nearly 85 percent of uninsured Coloradans said they lacked health insurance because it was too expensive. The next most common reason, at nearly 41 percent, was that an employee couldn’t get insurance through work. That was followed by job loss or job change at 39 percent.

The survey also looked at whether people have a regular source of health care, such as a primary care physician.

Weld County and the southwest part of the state reported the highest rates of residents without a usual source of care. Mesa and Douglas counties reported the lowest.

This year, more Coloradans reported they lacked a regular place to go when they are sick.

About 30,000 people die every year in Colorado. Studies show half those deaths are preventable, and that health insurance would save lives, Calonge said. Coloradans without health insurance face a 40 percent higher risk of dying prematurely than those with private health insurance, a 2009 study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated.

“People who are uninsured don’t get the preventative or chronic illness services they need,” Calonge said. “That impacts their chances for a long and healthy life.”