ICYMI: Hickenlooper Visits Kids First Health Care to Discuss Medicaid Cuts, Falling Vaccination Rates

New CDC data shows Colorado has the sixth-lowest reported kindergarten MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccination rate among states and D.C. COLORADO – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper recently visited Kids First Health Care in Commerce City to meet with pediatric providers, public health experts, and local health care leaders about how the Trump administration’s health policies are hitting Colorado kids – including cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance in HR1, and changes to the childhood vaccine schedule. The visit came on the heels of new CDC data which ranked Colorado among the states with the lowest reported MMR vaccination rates in the country. Pediatric care specialists said access to nutrition assistance and affordable food is the number one ask among families they see. The numbers back that up: 12,500 Colorado children have already lost food assistance because of the cuts to SNAP in the president’s signature legislation, according to new data from the Center on Budget and Policy priorities. Another 193,000 Coloradans are projected to lose their health coverage as a result of the bill’s cuts to Medicaid, and more than one-third of Colorado’s Medicaid enrollees are children. In a subsequent Substack , Hickenlooper shared how his personal experience as a parent and scientist informs his work on these issues. “As a former scientist and the father of a three-and-a-half-year-old, the issue of healthcare is deeply personal. I know the anxiety parents feel when they drop their kids off at day care or school,” Hickenlooper wrote . “We all want the same thing: to keep our children healthy and safe. That means following the evidence and giving parents clear, reliable information they can trust.” At the event, Hickenlooper raised concerns about the Trump administration’s proposed changes to longstanding childhood vaccine recommendations, which are currently being challenged in court, and efforts to encourage states to reconsider school immunization requirements. WATCH: Fox 31 Denver: Hickenlooper Discusses Vaccines, Medicaid Cuts WATCH: Hickenlooper Discusses Cuts to Medicaid, Falling Vaccination Rates ###