Healthy Children Introduction
Too many Colorado children live in poverty, and too few have health insurance. Roughly 121,000 (14 percent) of the state’s children under age 12 had no form of insurance in 2007. Forty-four states—including some much poorer than Colorado—did better. Children without insurance are more likely to have no primary health care provider and thus are less likely to get needed medical and dental care. Too few Colorado children get enough exercise, and 13 percent are obese.1 While Colorado children are among the leanest in the nation, the state does poorly on most other indicators, resulting in a grade of C-.
Insuring our children, seeing that they have a medical and dental home, and making sure they get enough exercise will better prepare them for the challenges of adolescence and adulthood.
| Healthy Children: Health Indicators and Rank Among States |
Health Indicator |
Rank
among states |
| 14.2 percent of children are not covered by private or public health insurance |
45
|
| 14.8 percent of children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level |
|
| 45.8 percent of children have a primary care provider AND consistently received all needed care, including one or more preventative care visits during the past 12 months |
|
| 70.5 percent of children received all the routine dental preventive care needed in the past 12 months |
|
| 57.1 percent of school-age children participated in vigorous physical activity for four or more days per week |
|
| 9.9 percent of children are obese |
|
Average Rank |
|
Average Grade |
C- |
- This rate is based on 2007 data from the Colorado Child Health Survey. Data summarized in the table includes the value from the National Child Health Survey used for the state rankings which was conducted in 2003.