Reproductive Rights & Comprehensive Health Care Reform in Colorado
As a result of a Colorado law passed in 2006, the Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform was created to study and establish health care reform models to expand coverage, especially for the underinsured and uninsured, and to decrease health care costs for Colorado residents. The Commission is charged with examining health coverage and reform models designed to ensure access to affordable coverage for all Colorado residents and completing a final report with recommendations to state legislators in January 2008. During the summer of 2007, the Commission analyzed four proposals, and developed a fifth of its own, to put forth a plan for comprehensive health care reform in Colorado for the General Assembly to consider in 2008. (Read More: Fact Sheet) REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS & COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CARE REFORM IN COLORADO Any proposal for comprehensive health reform must protect the rights of all Colorado women to have access to the full range of reproductive health care options. Any recommendations made by the Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform to the Colorado General Assembly as part of its final report should reflect the following principles: All Colorado women have the right to access the full range of reproductive health care options, including comprehensive family planning services; prenatal care; neo-natal services; and safe, legal abortion. All Colorado women and their families must have access to comprehensive, scientific and medically accurate information to enable them to make responsible, informed decisions about preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, or choosing safe, legal abortion. Health reform plans should emphasize prevention first in reproductive health care to address the barriers and challenges to preventing unintended pregnancy in Colorado without denying women the fundamental right to receive safe, legal medical care.
In crafting its final report and recommendations to the General Assembly, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Reform should clearly demonstrate how the recommended model(s) achieve the following: Enable Colorado to meet its stated goal of reducing the rate of unintended pregnancy to no more than 30% by 2010. Maximize the number of Coloradans able to use Title X and Medicaid programs for primary preventive care services and secondary pregnancy prevention for at-risk populations. Increase access to comprehensive, medically and scientifically accurate family planning services. Ensure that Colorado women and their families are not penalized for accessing preventive care, such as family planning services, through subsequent rate increases for health coverage. Provide accessible and affordable coverage for all forms of contraceptive methods, including birth control pills, emergency contraception, injectibles, the NuvaRing, IUDs, and surgical methods such as tubal ligation and vasectomy. Ensure that Coloradans are not denied coverage for complications resulting from reproductive health care services, including abortion, high-risk pregnancy, pre-term delivery, or contraceptive methods requiring surgery.
MORE RESOURCES The State of Colorado established a Web site to educate Coloradans about the work of the Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform. Visit http://www.colorado.gov/208commission for more details.
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