About half a million Coloradans or 10 percent of the population meet criteria for being considered "medically vulnerable." These people have annual family incomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and self-report their health status as fair or poor, and/or are limited in their ability to work because of a physical, mental, or emotional health problem.

Medically vulnerable individuals often face the greatest challenges in accessing health coverage and care, which frequently is uncoordinated and untimely. Using data from the 2008-09 Colorado Household Survey (COHS), this brief examines insurance status, utilization patterns and demographic characteristics of Coloradans who are medically vulnerable, and looks at how state and federal health care reforms might improve their ability to get quality, timely health care.

Analysis of data from the 2008-09 Colorado Household Survey (COHS) shows that if state and federal health reform were fully enacted today, more than 540,000 of the 800,000 currently uninsured Coloradans would be newly insured. The reform measures would reduce the number of uninsured Coloradans by two-thirds. Because newly insured individuals have pent-up demand for health care services, this finding is particularly important as state and local policymakers evaluate the capacity of their current health care infrastructure.

Thirty percent of Coloradans live in families where no members have insurance or where members have "mixed insurance" status. For example, one parent may have coverage while the other does not, and/or some children may be covered while others are not. Families with mixed insurance will continue to present a difficult challenge to policymakers and health care leaders charged with creating and implementing the insurance exchange.

To assist policymakers in understanding the implications of mixed insurance and uninsured families, CHI used the the 2008-09 Colorado Household Survey (COHS) to analyze the differences in health care utilization, access to care and affordability issues.