Lamm Receives Iglehart Award for Leadership in Health Policy

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Former Colorado governor and health care champion honored at the 2015 Colorado Health Symposium

KEYSTONE, CO — Former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm received the distinguished John K. Iglehart Award for Leadership in Health Policy during the Colorado Health Foundation’s annual Colorado Health Symposium, July 30 in Keystone. The award recognizes a person whose wisdom, involvement and leadership consistently advanced the cause of health and health care for the people of Colorado. 

Gov. Lamm is the 2015 recipient of the Iglehart Award for Leadership in Health Policy.

Gov. Lamm, who served three terms as Colorado Governor from 1975-1987, is the longest-serving governor in Colorado and has always been in the forefront of political change within the state. In his current role, he is the Director of the Center for Public Policy and Contemporary Issues at the University of Denver.

“Richard Lamm has had tremendous impact on public policy in Colorado,” says Rahn Porter, interim president and CEO of the Colorado Health Foundation. “As a state legislator and governor, he demonstrated a commitment to the people of Colorado, and his work as an educator in health policy has established him as a true thought leader nationwide. He championed the idea of providing health care and coverage to all U.S. citizens, which aligns with the Foundation’s mission of improving the health of Coloradans by increasing access to high-quality health care and encouraging healthy lifestyle choices.”

Lamm served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army and later worked as an accountant and tax clerk with the California Franchise Tax Board. He then became a certified public accountant, an attorney with the Colorado Antidiscrimination Commission, and an attorney in private practice. From 1969-1974, Lamm was associate professor of law at the University of Denver. He was a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 1966-1974 and served as assistant minority leader from 1971-1974. As a freshman legislator, he drafted and succeeded in passing the nation's first liberalized abortion law, and was an early leader of the environmental movement. Reacting to the high cost of campaigning, he physically walked across the state in his 1973 campaign for governor. In 2003, he authored a book, “The Brave New World of Health Care”, a criticism of current United States health care policies and proposals for reform.

Gov. Lamm (middle) with Rahn Porter (left) and Don Murphy. Porter is interim CEO and Murphy is chair of the Foundation Board.

Lamm’s commitment to Coloradans distinguishes him as this year’s Iglehart Award winner. The award is named after John K. Iglehart, founding editor of “Health Affairs”, a health policy journal. In conjunction with the Iglehart Award, the Foundation will make a $10,000 contribution to a health care nonprofit of Lamm’s choice. 

“To be recognized by the Colorado Health Foundation is an honor," says Lamm. “We have run into the 'law of diminishing returns' in health care, where we are often doing more, with more technology, at a higher cost, for less benefit. I believe a nation does not maximize its health care until it starts to ask the hard question: How can we prioritize our expenditures to provide the most health care for the most people? The Colorado Health Symposium is one of many venues today where we as leaders in health policy get to ponder this question for the residents of Colorado, and so I am very pleased to accept the Iglehart Award today.”Lamm’s commitment to Coloradans distinguishes him as this year’s Iglehart Award winner. The award is named after John K. Iglehart, founding editor of “Health Affairs”, a health policy journal. In conjunction with the Iglehart Award, the Foundation will make a $10,000 contribution to a health care nonprofit of Lamm’s choice. 

The Iglehart award is a tradition of the annual Colorado Health Symposium, hosted by the Colorado Health Foundation. In 2007, the award was established to recognize Iglehart's more than 20 years of dedication to the Symposium and his contribution to the health policy discussion. Past award recipients include William Lindsay, president of Lockton Companies LLC and chairman of the Blue Ribbon Commission for Healthcare Reform; former Secretary of State Bernie Buescher; Dr. Jay Want, now principal of Want Healthcare LLC; Joan Henneberry, former planning director of the Colorado Health Insurance Exchange and former executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, currently a private consultant and Barbara Yondorf, a consumer health advocate; Margarite Salazar, Colorado Commissioner of Insurance; and Elisabeth Arenales, Health Care Program director for the Colorado Center on Law and Policy.

To join the 2015 Colorado Health Symposium online, visit the Symposium's social media webpage.

About the Colorado Health Foundation
The Colorado Health Foundation is singularly focused on helping Coloradans live their healthiest lives by advancing opportunities to pursue good health and achieve health equity through grantmaking, policy and advocacy, strategic private investments and convening to drive change. For more information, please visit www.coloradohealth.org.

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