What’s at stake?
-- Public health
Public health programs are important to all
Montanans, but especially our senior citizens and children.
CI-97 (SOS) threatens the state’s ability to provide
these services.
Lessons from Colorado
Under TABOR, Colorado’s version of CI-97,
the state declined from 23rd to 48th in the nation in the
percentage of pregnant women receiving adequate access to
prenatal care (as defined by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention).
Colorado plummeted from 24th to 50th in the
nation in the share of children receiving their full vaccinations.
Only by investing additional funds in immunization programs
was Colorado able to improve its ranking to 43rd in 2004.
At one point, funding got so low that the state
suspended its requirement that school children be fully vaccinated
against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough)
because Colorado, unlike other states, could not afford to
buy the vaccine.
Under TABOR, the share of low-income children
lacking health insurance has doubled in Colorado, even as
it has fallen in the nation as a whole. Colorado now ranks
last among the 50 states on this measure.
TABOR has also affected health care for adults.
Colorado has fallen from 20th to 48th for the percentage of
low-income non-elderly adults covered under health insurance.
In 2002, Colorado ranked 49th in the nation
in both the percentage of low-income non-elderly adults and
low-income children covered by Medicaid.
Read
more about TABOR and health care funding in Colorado
What's At
Stake:
Senior citizens
Public
health and safety
Local
communities
Jobs and economic
development
K-12 schools
Higher
education
Montana's
most vulnerable citizens
Agriculture |
