Article Contributed on: 1/7/2009 1:24:36 PM
State lawmaker
Dianne Primavera intends to pick up where she left off from last year, focusing largely on health care issues.
Rep. Primavera, D-Broomfield, got back to work this month as the State Capitol officially opened its doors for business Jan. 7. Primavera, who fended off Republican challenger
Nick Kliebenstein in the November elections by a 56 to 44 percent margin, is beginning her second term as a state legislator.
A four-time cancer survivor, Primavera has made health care a priority since taking office in 2007. Last year, she sponsored a bill that established the Colorado Stem Cells Cure Fund, which provides resources to allow new mothers to donate the stem cells found in umbilical cord blood to a public cord blood bank.
Those stem cells can then be used in treatments for illnesses including leukemia, sickle cell anemia and cerebral palsy.
Primavera, who sits on the Health and Human Services Committee, said she plans to introduce legislation this year aimed at improving health care and helping cancer patients.
One of her major bills this year would help promote the use of clinical trials, she said. The measure, she said, would encourage health care providers to offer primary care to patients who choose to participate in a clinical trial.
Primavera herself participated in a clinical trial after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988.
"I wouldn't be here without a clinical trial, so this is an issue that's really near and dear to my heart," she said.
Primavera also is working with the Komen Foundation on a bill that would "close the gap" for low-income women with breast cancer who aren't eligible for treatment under Medicaid. Currently, state law requires women to be treated at specific clinics in order to receive assistance, she said.
"One constituent of mine died because of this loophole," she said. "So we're trying to come up with funding to provide treatment for these people, whether they were diagnosed at a specific clinic or not."
Primavera is hoping to provide more funding for breast cancer treatment through another bill she's carrying, which would create an additional fee for the state's breast cancer awareness license plates. The "pink plate" costs an additional $25, but the additional revenues are earmarked for the state's highway fund, not breast cancer research.
"We're trying to put an additional fee on that," she said. "Most of the women I've talked to say they would be more than willing to contribute extra money for research."