Last year, state Sen. Irene Aguilar got to know her fellow lawmakers up close. She checked their blood pressures. Then she cautioned them about the dangers of hypertension. After all, what group of professionals has the potential for higher blood pressure than politicians at the capitol?
And, after all, Aguilar is a doctor.
鈥淚鈥檝e sort of established myself as being willing to provide medical advice and guidance to people,鈥� said Aguilar, the only licensed physician in the Colorado legislature.
鈥淚n addition, when there are things that are being proposed that I really think there isn鈥檛 good evidence behind, I鈥檓 willing to get up there and say, 鈥楾his is not a place where we should be spending our money.鈥� 鈥�
The 2012 session will be best remembered for its rancorous . Yet Aguilar, finishing her second year in office, has quietly built alliances across ideological boundaries. Those alliances helped her pass unusual bipartisan legislation that makes health care more affordable and accessible.
鈥淚鈥檓 sort of known as the doctor who wants to give everybody quote, unquote 鈥榝ree health care鈥�, which is a little bit of an exaggeration,鈥� said the Democrat from Denver. 鈥淚鈥檇 just like it to be affordable for everybody.鈥�
One of Aguilar鈥檚 successful bills this year, Senate Bill 74, allows parents who are caregivers to their disabled children over age 18 to receive Medicaid support.
Another success, Senate Bill 134, levels the playing field for middle-class and working poor Coloradans, allowing them to pay the same rates as lowest-paid private insurers for hospital procedures. Hospitals have often charged 鈥� sometimes twice as much.
The bill had broad support, including from the Colorado Hospital Association and the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative 鈥� and co-sponsor Rep. Cindy Acree, an Aurora Republican who has experienced the reality of being uninsured and in the emergency room. When her husband died, Acree lost her health insurance and learned firsthand what many consumers don鈥檛 know 鈥� that out-of-pocket costs for the same procedures can be dramatically higher for the uninsured.
鈥淢ost of us want the same things out of life,鈥� Acree said. 鈥淲e want to take care of our families. We want to make a living. We want to have the ability to take care of our health care needs and get jobs. We differ sometimes on the model and the tools we use to get there.鈥�
There were also compromises in the final version, including reducing the number of people the law will help. Initially, Aguilar wanted the bill to cover people making 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $92,000 for a family of four. But when some hospitals balked, the amount was reduced to about $57,000 for a family of four, or 250 percent of the federal poverty level.
鈥淚n the rural areas, they (the hospitals) didn鈥檛 want it to be much higher than 250 percent of federal poverty level, because in rural areas oftentimes that鈥檚 what the top income is for people anyway,鈥� Aguilar said. 鈥淪o they wanted it to be at an area that would allow them to continue to recover as much of their costs as possible.鈥�
When he signed the bill into law on May 7, Gov. praised Aguilar and Acree鈥檚 bipartisan solution that "provides real relief for vulnerable Coloradans who are facing excessive medical debt and, in many case, are, again, forced into bankruptcy."
Sen. Kevin Lundberg, a Larimer County Republican who serves with Aguilar on the , calls his colleague a "smart lady.鈥� Lundberg and Aguilar are often on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but Lundberg says he occasionally turns to the doctor for advice.
"[Aguilar] really does work with people well -- and that's to her credit,鈥� he said. "It's good to get a doc's perspective."
Aguilar says her political style is the same as her medical style. When making a diagnosis, she says, she likes to consult others.
Aguilar was born and raised in Chicago to Mexican immigrant parents who originally settled in Texas and later moved north to seek factory jobs over farm labor. She did well in school and graduated from the . For more than two decades, she has served as a primary care physician at . She is married to Dr. Thomas W. Bost and has three children.
Although she represents District 32 in south Denver, her vision for legislation usually extends far beyond her own constituency.
Aguilar backs the idea of a voter-approved statewide nonprofit health insurance cooperative, which she says has the potential to drive down health insurance costs. The idea still needs to be fleshed out, including developing a business plan.
Other local programs that offer affordable health care 鈥� which could potentially be replicated 鈥� also are piquing her interest. One of them, Health Access Pueblo, is a community health plan in which employers pay $60 a month, employees pay $60 month and Health Access Pueblo, a nonprofit, contributes $60 a month. The plan has no deductibles.
Another concept Aguilar likes is creating a new content. Such a tax could help fight obesity, Aguilar argues, and reduce dental problems. Many people, she says, don鈥檛 realize how much sugar there is in juice drinks alone. And, with fewer people smoking, the state鈥檚 revenue from tobacco taxes is declining; a tax on sugary drinks could fill that void.
Asked if she鈥檇 consider running for higher office or to seek a higher appointment, Aguilar says only if it would mean she could improve access to health care.
鈥淢y goal when I came in here was to try and help everyone in Colorado have access to health care. Until I do that, I鈥檒l feel like I still have work to do,鈥� she said.
