 Tuesday, March 3, 2026 | | |
| | | | | BY MEG WINGERTER Colorado lawmakers are making another run at a bill to increase fees on alcohol to fund addiction prevention and treatment. A similar bill passed the Senate but fell short in the House in 2024. The current bill, which proposes lower fees, hasn't yet gotten out of committee. Two years ago, I wrote a series about the underappreciated death toll from alcohol in Colorado. Thankfully, the number of alcohol-related deaths is down somewhat since the pandemic. But even by the most narrow definition – including only organ damage from drinking and complications of withdrawal – more people died from alcohol in 2024 than from accidental overdoses. | | | | The bill leaves some room to adjust the fees, with maximums of 5 cents per gallon of beer, hard cider, or apple wine; 7 cents per liter of wine; and 35 cents per liter of spirits. | | | | | The Office of the Inspector General estimated Colorado’s Medicaid program overpaid $77.8 million for applied behavior analysis services in 2022 and 2023. | | | | | Measles is a highly infectious but preventable disease with symptoms that can include fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes. | | | | | Public health officials are providing free measles vaccinations to people who were potentially exposed at the church service starting Wednesday morning. | | | | | “Today our kids are exposed to an entirely new generation of products — like disposable vapes, e-cigarettes, pods, nicotine pouches — that are designed to be discreet, addictive and appealing.” | | | | | Overall profit margins ranged from a high of 33% at UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital to a low of -182% at CommonSpirit St. Francis-Interquest, which opened in Colorado Springs that year. | | | | | What we're reading | |
