This story by Kyle Rojas Legleiter appeared on the Colorado Health Foundation website on July 17, 2024. We are sharing it in two parts. Read the original article here.
Read Part One
“In August 2020, the first year of our Pulse Poll, at a time when the economy had been jarringly disrupted, Coloradans were evenly divided over whether they were faring better or worse financially,” said Lori Weigel, Republican pollster for Pulse and principal of New Bridge Strategy. “But today, they are more likely to say they are worse off financially by a 14-point margin. Almost all of that feeling is attributable to the exploding concerns about the cost of living – be that housing, health coverage, or food. These concerns about spiraling costs have real implications for our state as seven-in-10 people worry that they won’t be able to afford to live in Colorado in the future.”
Healthcare access, costs and changes in the Medicaid enrollment process
The ‘costly Colorado’ theme carried into respondents’ experiences with healthcare coverage and accessing health services.
A quarter of uninsured Coloradans report that they were previously covered by Medicaid, highlighting how post-pandemic changes to the Medicaid enrollment process and increasing insurance premiums are preventing people from obtaining health insurance. Nearly three in four uninsured Coloradans say that the cost of health insurance is keeping them from being covered. At the same time, 34% of all respondents said they are worried that they or someone in their household will be without health insurance in the next year. For those that are ‘really struggling’ financially, that worry doubles to 70%, and it is higher for people living on low incomes (57%) and for Latinos (47%).
Among younger respondents, ages 18-29, as well as those 50-64 who don’t yet qualify for Medicare, 41% are worried they will be without health insurance in the coming year.
For those in need of medical or dental care, 43% of the respondents postponed that care in the past year due to cost, a 5% increase from 2023. A higher percentage of those without insurance or on Medicaid, people living on low incomes, and people 18-49 are postponing medical and dental care.
“A significant proportion of Coloradans have consistently expressed worry about health insurance and told us cost is a barrier to coverage,” added Lori Weigel. “Today, those concerns have been compounded by worries about the cost of housing specifically, and the overall climbing cost of living.”
Economic conditions forcing tough decisions, including skipping meals:
While there was a 4% increase (21% in 2023 to 25% in 2024) in respondents saying they are better off financially, including one-third of those between the age of 18-29, the percentage of respondents saying they are “worse off financially” than a year ago remained concerningly stable at 39%.
About 40% of Coloradans say they are “just getting by financially,” including more than one in 10 describing themselves as “really struggling.” One-third (33%) of respondents said they are worried they might not be able to afford enough food to feed themselves or their families over the next year, and 78% of those who are worried about affording enough food reported they have already been skipping meals over the past year due to financial strain.
Of those skipping meals, the challenge is felt more acutely among those enrolled in Medicaid or without health insurance, people living on low incomes, renters, and people in Pueblo County. Within these groups, the percent of people who skipped meals increased by 10% or more from 2023.
What Policymakers Can Do To Help
Asked about the most important thing that the Colorado State government can do to make life better for respondents and the people they care about, respondents want the State to act on the biggest challenges being faced right now, including affordable housing and lower rents, tax relief and issues like TABOR, rising costs of living, including inflation, gas and food costs.
15%, More affordable housing, lower rent, etc.
13%, Address taxes, lower taxes, tax issues, fix TABOR, etc.
12%, Lower the cost of living, inflation, gas prices, food costs, etc.
“With housing affordability once again at the top of Coloradans’ concerns in 2024, we’re clearly hearing that people are not yet feeling relief from all the state and local policy changes that have sought to address this critical issue in our state,” said Kyle Rojas Legleiter, Senior Director of Policy at the Colorado Health Foundation. “The increase of concern over the years is stark, and so too are the impacts of housing costs on Coloradans’ health and well-being. The percentage of people who are extremely or seriously concerned about housing and cost of living in 2020 was more than 20% less than where we stand now.”
Looking a little further down the road, respondents were split across three potential options to create a long-term impact on the rising housing costs across the state.
Turning to respondents’ personal financial situation and the actions they believe could most provide assistance and relief, an overwhelming majority, 73%, said that “increasing the availability of higher-paying jobs in their community” would be helpful (including 46% who said it would be very helpful).
57% said “increasing access to affordable professional education and job training” would be helpful.
53% said “providing support to help people manage debt and improve their credit” would be helpful.
43% said “increasing the availability and affordability of childcare” would be helpful.
This number increases to 70% for respondents with children ages 0-5 and 57% for respondents with children ages 6-12.
41% said “reducing discrimination and bias in hiring” would be helpful.