Health Care Planning Heads Up

The Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform has developed its fifth and final plan to help fix our health care system here in Colorado.

If you haven't been paying attention to what the Blue Ribbon Commission is up to, you should. Their recommendations to the legislature will have an impact on every Coloradoan. For the uninsured or underinsured, it will hopefully bring a new era of more more affordable, accessible, and high quality health care.

This coming October, the Blue Ribbon Commission will be holding public hearings to seek input on their five plans. It will be worthwhile for every Coloradoan to attend.

In the meantime, while the Blue Ribbon Commission tackles the issue of health care here in Colorado, let's not forget about the role public health policy plays in all this. Clean air in particular can lead to enormous benefits and likely reduce the cost of health care for everyone in the state.

Consider this: the EPA estimates that new health standards for ground-level ozone will benefit the United States to a tune of $33 billion. These benefits come from preventing asthma attacks, missed work and school days, bronchitis, heart attacks, and even premature death.

And this is just the benefits from reducing ground-level ozone. Imagine if we could further reduce particulate pollution, carbon monoxide, and cancer-causing air pollution?

It's been said that public health should be the foundation of any health care policy. We couldn't agree more. Affordable and accessible health care are all within reach, but without good public health policy, it will be all for not.

As the Blue Ribbon Commission moves forward, let's be sure we don't lose sight of the need for clean air and healthy communities.