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Data: The Population Reference Bureau; Map: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals

Colorado offers some of the most protective access to birth control in the country, a new scorecard from the Population Reference Bureau shows.

Why it matters: Colorado's abortion protections are drawing patients living in more restrictive states to seek treatment here, which can impact state residents' ability to obtain contraceptive care.

State of play: Contraception access has become a political flashpoint since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, with Democrats unsuccessfully pressing to codify nationwide contraceptive access and some patients concerned that conservative state legislatures could enact new restrictions.

Context: The 2022 ruling prompted a spike in out-of-state patients seeking treatment at local abortion clinics. That's especially true for patients in Texas, a state the Population Reference Bureau scorecard rated as having "restrictive" access.

By the numbers: Nearly 35% of Americans, or 121 million people, currently live in a state that actively restricts access.

The big picture: State laws regulating birth control remain a patchwork, with wide variations in access and restrictions in some locales requiring parental consent or allowing providers to opt out of dispensing contraception.

Colorado's contraceptive access remains high

Colorado's abortion protections are drawing patients living in more restrictive states.

A cartogram of the U.S. state showing contraceptive policy environments as of July 2025, as evaluated by the Population Reference Bureau. 17 states and D.C. are rated as being protective of contraception, 16 are restrictive, and 18 have mixed protections and restrictions.

Colorado offers some of the most protective access to birth control in the country, a new <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="scorecard" data-vars-click-url="https://stateofaccess.prb.org/" data-vars-content-id="6f1ad585-6f21-4724-9954-15035e80e325" data-vars-headline="Colorado&#x27;s contraceptive access remains high" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://stateofaccess.prb.org/" target="_blank">scorecard</a> from the Population Reference Bureau shows.Why it matters: <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Colorado&#x27;s abortion protections" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2024/11/06/colorado-amendment-79-abortion-results" data-vars-content-id="6f1ad585-6f21-4724-9954-15035e80e325" data-vars-headline="Colorado&#x27;s contraceptive access remains high" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2024/11/06/colorado-amendment-79-abortion-results" target="_self">Colorado&#x27;s abortion protections</a> are drawing patients living in more restrictive states to seek treatment here, which can impact state residents&#x27; ability to obtain <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="contraceptive care" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2025/02/27/texas-abortion-ban-colorado-impact" data-vars-content-id="6f1ad585-6f21-4724-9954-15035e80e325" data-vars-headline="Colorado&#x27;s contraceptive access remains high" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2025/02/27/texas-abortion-ban-colorado-impact" target="_self">contraceptive care</a>.

News

Health

Data: NORC at the University of Chicago; Map: Axios Visuals

Nearly 57,000 Medicare recipients in Colorado likely have Alzheimer's or another form of dementia, according to researchers developing the first-ever national surveillance system. In Denver County, that estimate is about 6,500.

Why it matters: The lack of a widely accepted monitoring tool has made it hard to direct funding toward dementia care, even as scientific advances make it easier to diagnose symptoms and slow cognitive decline.

What they're saying: The new data hub offers the most comprehensive picture yet of dementia diagnoses among Medicare recipients, health experts tell Axios.

Researchers at the University of Chicago, George Washington University and KPMG published the model.

By the numbers: In Colorado, 6% of Medicare recipients likely have dementia, according to the data hub — lower than the national rate of 7.1%.

Phillips County in northeastern Colorado has the highest share of Medicare recipients likely to have dementia, at 9.6%.

Driving the news: At Colorado State University, a new drug tested on mice with cognitive issues similar to Alzheimer's disease showed improvements in memory skills.

The findings were published in July in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

What they're saying: "A very important finding that we saw in this study is that you can reverse some cognitive decline," Prashant Nagpa, one of the researchers, said in a statement.

"We are hoping to take this to human clinical trials next year," he added.

The big picture: Cases of dementia — a broad term for loss of cognitive abilities — are expected to triple worldwide by 2050 as the population ages.

Nationally, more than 5.4 million Medicare recipients are likely affected with some form of dementia.

Alzheimer's, the most common type of dementia, cost the U.S. economy an estimated $321 billion in 2022, per the most recent federal data available.

New tracker finds 57,000 likely dementia cases in Colorado

The new data hub offers the most comprehensive picture yet of dementia diagnoses among Medicare recipients, health experts say.

Nearly 57,000 Medicare recipients in Colorado likely have <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Alzheimer&#x27;s" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2024/06/28/alzheimers-drug-anti-amyloid-fda" data-vars-content-id="ea112646-d587-4045-b2fb-3180adbb5238" data-vars-headline="New tracker finds 57,000 likely dementia cases in Colorado" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/06/28/alzheimers-drug-anti-amyloid-fda" target="_self">Alzheimer&#x27;s</a> or another form of dementia, according to researchers developing the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="first-ever national surveillance system" data-vars-click-url="https://dementiadatahub.org/content/dementiadatahub/us/en/about.html" data-vars-content-id="ea112646-d587-4045-b2fb-3180adbb5238" data-vars-headline="New tracker finds 57,000 likely dementia cases in Colorado" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://dementiadatahub.org/content/dementiadatahub/us/en/about.html" target="_blank">first-ever national surveillance system</a>. In Denver County, that estimate is about 6,500.Why it matters: The lack of a widely accepted monitoring tool has made it hard to direct funding toward dementia care, even as scientific advances make it easier to <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="diagnose symptoms" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2024/07/29/alzheimers-blood-tests-detection-treatment" data-vars-content-id="ea112646-d587-4045-b2fb-3180adbb5238" data-vars-headline="New tracker finds 57,000 likely dementia cases in Colorado" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/07/29/alzheimers-blood-tests-detection-treatment" target="_self">diagnose symptoms</a> and slow cognitive decline.

Tina Reed

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