Meeting of interest
Western Colo. HR Assoc
Fall Conference
Wednesday, Sept. 17 2008
All-day event begins at 8 a.m
Two River Conference Center
Grand Junction
Afternoon workshops feature Ralph Pollock from the Business Health Forum and Kelly Esselman
from Mountain States Employers Council. The first afternoon workshop
allows us an opportunity to let out voice be heard as we participate in
a discussion titled "Colorado Health Care Reform - What is the Employer's Response?"
Kelly
and Ralph really want to know! They will be reviewing legislative
proposals and recent initiatives and will take feedback to the
Capitol. The second workshop is titled "Assessing Assessment: An
Examination of Pre- Employment Testing." Come prepared to interact!
Attendance at the day's events can earn up to 5 recertification credits!!
Register for the event online.
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The
Business Health Forum is funded by several foundations, including The
Colorado Health Foundation and The Colorado Trust. The BHF is a project
of the CACI Educational Foundation.
Stay tuned for info. about upcoming business health care forums in your community.
To learn more about the Forum, contact Amy Fletcher at afletcher@bizhealthforum.org or call 303-866-9659.
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Dear Amy,
As
health insurance premiums continue to soar and Colorado examines
wide-scale health care reform, there has never been a more important
time for the business community to engage in the debate. The Forum is a
new project to help you connect the dots and weigh in on solutions.
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National execs in Denver to discuss wellness
The Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee has launched a series of 10
issue-oriented, non-partisan discussions, including one on health care
that will be held Monday, Aug. 25.
Tickets are $12 and are still
available for the discussion, which will be 9:30 a.m - 11:45 a.m. at
Denver Center for the Performing Arts Complex. For more information,
click here.
The discussion will focus on wellness and prevention and the impact
chronic illnesses -- including diabetes, heart disease, cancer -- have
on millions of Americans and businesses. The roundtable will discuss:
Is creating a culture of wellness through lifestyle choices and
private/public policies critical to sustaining a growth-oriented
economy? Is there sufficient capacity within the U.S. medical system
to provide sufficient care?
Participants include top executives
from Pitney Bowes, Denver Health, Wellpoint and UnitedHealth Group,
Safeway Inc., the Mayo Clinic, the cities of Sanf Francisco and Boston,
Pfizer, the state of Colorado and more. Rocky Mountain Roundtable
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Top health care news
Report: Colorado ranks lowest for obesity, but rate is increasing
Colorado is the least obese state in America, according to a new report
from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation.
However, the state's adult obesity rate is 18.4 percent, an increase for the second year in a row.
Nationally, adult obesity rates rose in 37 states in the past year. No
state saw a decrease. Though many promising policies have emerged to
promote physical activity and good nutrition in communities, the report
concludes that they are not being adopted or implemented at levels
needed to turn around this health crisis.
More than 20 percent of
adults are obese in every state except Colorado. An estimated
two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, and an estimated
23 million children are either overweight or obese (the report does not
include new state-level data for children this year).
Rates of
type 2 diabetes, a disease typically associated with obesity, increased
in 26 states last year, including in Colorado. Trust for America's Health
Harry and Louise are back, this time promoting health reform
Harry and Louise, the iconic couple featured in ads to defeat the
Clinton health plan in 1993-1994, are back on television. This time
they will lend their voice to strongly encourage health care reform.
The new multi-million dollar ad campaign will air on national
television throughout the Democratic and Republican conventions. In
light of ever increasing health care costs and increasing numbers of
people without health insurance coverage, Harry and Louise will urge
the next President and Congress to put health care at the top of the
domestic agenda.
The ad campaign is sponsored by five prominent
national organizations. Those organizations - the American Cancer
Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the American Hospital
Association (AHA), the Catholic Health Association (CHA), Families USA,
and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) - represent
diverse constituencies with historically different views on health care
reform, but they have come together to promote urgent action to resolve
the growing health care crisis. HarryandLouiseReturn.com
Health care no longer primary ailment for voters, candidates
What happened to health care? In the daily rat-a-tat-tat between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, the silence is deafening.
In the drawn- out Democratic primary fight between Sen. Hillary and
Obama, the cost and availability of health care were daily fodder in
the debate over which candidate would do a better job as president.
And now, there is ... not much.
The continual tussle between the two presumptive presidential nominees
- Obama and McCain - has largely centered recently on national security
and the high price of gasoline. Public opinion polls have shown that
among the top issues of concern to Americans, health care is
languishing far behind the economy, the war and the price of gas. One
CBS poll from July put voter interest in health care at just 3 percent.
In August, it was at 8 percent.
"For a lot of people who have
health insurance, they are paying more for health care, but it may not
show up as concretely as paying $70 to fill their gas tank," said Anna
Greenberg, a Democratic pollster. Chicago Tribun |
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