During the initial days of the Ebola outbreak, this testimony details for the Colorado legislature how Colorado hospitals were preparing to handle the Ebola threat.

We all knew we were in for a bumpy ride when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010. As we continue our journey, I can’t help but be reminded of an explorer who passed through Colorado nearly 150 years ago on his way to Green River, Wyoming. Prior to Major John Wesley Powell’s expedition in 1869, there was widespread belief that no one who ventured down the Colorado River would ever emerge from it alive. However, Major Powell and nine other men embarked on a journey that would prove this belief false and forever change the West.

For the last six months, all eyes have been on Connect for Health Colorado (C4HCO). The state’s health insurance exchange has had all of its technological challenges, outrage over premiums in mountain towns and its enrollments scrutinized since the site launched on Oct. 1.

Most children know there are two types of report cards. There are good report cards—the ones that occupy prime real estate on the front of refrigerators—and then there are those “other” report cards—the kind kids like to keep buried at the bottom of their backpack with the hope their parents will forget to ask for it. This week Colorado received one of those “other” report cards.