Subject: Paying for Health Care

• Pop Quiz

  November 27, 2003

• Pick of the Week

  Benefit for Chris Rawles at Cricket on the Hill

  September 22, 2005

• Fire Sale

  The cost of cigarettes could go up in smoke this November.

  April 15, 2004

• In Sickness and in Wealth

  April 3, 2003

• Cutting Edge

  A plan by some Colorado leaders to trim hard-won health-insurance benefits could leave consumers feeling the pain.

  February 14, 2002

• A Dying Wish

  Peggy Quinn wanted to make death easier on the terminally ill, but she's made life hard on everyone else.

  May 31, 2001

• Mind Games

  The squeeze in managed mental-health care is choking patients and providers alike.

  May 24, 2001

• The Denver Private School District

  Denver Public Schools considers privatizing its health and social services.

  April 15, 1999

• Separation Anxiety

  Doctors thought banding together might give them more power at Rose Medical Center. Instead, they wound up owning their own hospital.

  May 14, 1998

• Mental Anguish

  Rescuing the mentally ill has brought millions to the Mental Health Corporation of Denver--as well as complaints of coercion, mismanagement and neglect.

  December 5, 1996

• Letters

  April 18, 1996

• Running Out of Patients

  Denver General gets ready to launch a downscale marketing campaign.

  April 4, 1996

• UNHEALTHY COMPETITION?

  August 2, 1995

• PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES

  BLUE CROSS SETTLES CO-PAY COMPLAINTS BUT STILL INTENDS TO CUT ITS OWN DEALS ON MEDICAL BILLS.

  March 15, 1995

• THE SICK BILL

  A COMPARISON OF TWO HOSPITAL BILLS SHOWS HOW COST-SHIFTING CAN KNEECAP CUSTOMERS.

  March 9, 1994

• From the week of June 11, 2009

  June 11, 2009

• The ideal healthcare system is in... Grand Junction?

  What St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction will look like after completing its "Century Project." In a report about efforts to control healthcare costs broadcast on National Public Radio this morning, Len Nichols, of the New America Foundation, an organization lobbying for reform in a wide array of areas, declared that "the ideal healthcare system" already exists in a number of places -- and the first one he mentioned was Grand Junction. The effusive press the Western Slope community has been

  June 29, 2009

• Ed Perlmutter gets an earful at health-care meeting in Brighton

  On Friday, we shared a video in which folks protesting healthcare reform in Pueblo compared Obamacare to Pol Pot and Adolph Hitler -- and this brand of overheated rhetoric is hardly isolated to that community. Over the weekend at an event in Brighton, pro-healthcare reform rep Ed Perlmutter was greeted by a group toting signs with slogans such as "Seniors: Get Your Death Pills Here" -- and at one point, you'll here one man shout, "We will ram it down your throats and shove it up your butt. And

  August 10, 2009

• Colorado's new Medicaid funding plan will leave disabled adults on the outside

  August 20, 2009

• Colorado's share of Pfizer drug-marketing settlement a drop in the bucket

  John Suthers.​Colorado is set to receive more than $3.5 million from drug leviathan Pfizer in relation to two separate settlements. According to the office of Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, the largest of the two deals is related to allegations that the company "improperly marketed four drugs and paid kickbacks to persuade doctors to prescribe them," while the other one involved the selling of Geodon, an "atypical antipsychotic" medication -- presumably made to be taken by atypica

  September 2, 2009

• Jane Norton for Senate: The next great GOP hope

  Jane Norton.​Last month, the National Republican Senatorial Committee registered a couple of domain names on behalf of former Colorado Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton -- and today, Norton's using one of them, JaneNortonForColorado.com. Up-front: A news item that declares, "Jane Norton officially filed the Jane Norton for Colorado campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission. The committee will allow Norton the opportunity to explore a bid for the United States Senate in 2010." A

  September 9, 2009

• Jane Norton's introduction not too mavericky

  Earlier this week, ex-Congressman Tom Tancredo said former Colorado Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton, then on the cusp of formally announcing her candidacy for the U.S. Senate, wasn't "ready for prime time" and was only running because she'd been urged to do so by Arizona Senator John McCain. Since the last politician McCain anointed was Sarah Palin, I expressed the hope that Norton would give the campaign a much-needed jolt of energy. But in the video above, posted on her JaneNortonForColorado

  September 16, 2009

• Archbishop Charles Chaput puts Obama administration on notice about abortion funding

  Archbishop Charles Chaput supports healthcare reform -- but his mind could be changed.​Archbishop Charles Chaput supports healthcare reform -- but his mind could be changed.​Although Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput is seen as an arch-conservative in many quarters, he's actually supported a number of measures considered progressive, including immigration reform. He's backed an overhaul of the healthcare system, too -- but this weekend, he's telling members of his flock that there rem

  November 6, 2009

• Abortion rights a hill Diana DeGette's willing to die on in healthcare debate

  Will Nancy Pelosi get so mad at Diana DeGette that she actually blinks?​Just because the House of Representatives passed a healthcare bill this weekend doesn't mean it'll stay passed. Denver congresswoman Diana DeGette is leading a group of reproductive-rights supporters who are mad as hell that the version of the legislation okayed on Saturday contains an amendment co-authored by Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak that builds on the barriers already in place (most notably the 1976 Hyde Amendme

  November 10, 2009

• Betsy Markey rep just not that into talking about her "no" vote on healthcare bill

  Betsy Markey doesn't like the House's healthcare bill -- and she's not that into talking about why not, either.​Even though Diana DeGette has big problems with an amendment to the mammoth healthcare bill limiting access to abortions, she voted for the measure. Not so Betsy Markey, the only Democratic representative from Colorado to turn her thumb down -- and it doesn't seem to have been a last-minute decision. After all, her statement explaining her reasoning, on view below, is dated Novem

  November 10, 2009

• Michael Bennet bets his job on healthcare: Brave or stupid?

  A single word from Senator Michael Bennet has simultaneously thrilled his supporters and emboldened critics who think he's might an incredible strategic blunder. That word is "yes." This weekend, Bennet appeared on CNN's State of the Union program, and when interrogator Jon King asked if he'd still support the current healthcare measure even if "every piece of evidence" suggests that supporting the bill will cost him his job, he answered in the affirmative.

  November 23, 2009