medicaid
-
Colorado Senate takes up $46.8 billion budget
The battle over Colorado’s proposed $46.8 billion spending plan for next year shifted to the state Senate, which must decide whether to acquiesce to changes made by the House. The senators could also decide to adopt their own changes, which would force the two bodies to reconcile their differences. The state constitution requires a balanced…
-
Colorado House opens debate on $46.8B budget already showing strain
With rising Medicaid costs, no dollars set aside for new legislation and dozens of bills still seeking funding, Colorado lawmakers on Wednesday began debating the proposed $46.8 billion budget that is already proving difficult to keep on track. By the time the main budget measure and its 64 accompanying “orbital” bills — which rely on…
-
Gov. Polis names new leaders for Colorado health agencies in wake of Medicaid turmoil
Gov. Jared Polis, on Thursday, announced he was appointing Gretchen Hammer to serve as acting executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, and deputy executive director Stephanie Beasley to become the next commissioner of the Behavioral Health Administration. Hammer’s nomination will have to be confirmed by the state Senate. As…
-
Colorado legislators drove up cost of Medicaid program
Some of Colorado’s spending woes in Medicaid can be traced to lawmakers who had approved new or expanded programs in the last few years, driving up state costs to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. Just three measures passed in the past five years, for example, would cost the state more than $80…
-
Unsustainable: How Colorado’s Medicaid spending exploded
The state’s Medicaid program — which covers about one in four Coloradans — is poised for its largest single-year jump in at least two decades, with officials proposing a $2.3 billion increase, even as lawmakers face a $1.5 billion budget shortfall. The data shows Medicaid enrollment has grown steadily, while spending has increased far more…
-
Colorado legislators consider $500 million in general fund cuts amid $1.5 billion deficit
The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee is working through a list Wednesday of about 150 suggestions to cut as much as $1.5 billion in general fund dollars out of next year’s budget. The largest on the list prepared by JBC staff is $198 million in cuts to the funding for the annual senior and disabled veterans…
-
Colorado Democrats want large corporations to pay fee if employees are on Medicaid
Democrats are seeking to require Colorado’s largest corporations to pay thousands of dollars for each employee that relies on the Medicaid program for health insurance. They don’t have to pay the fee if they can demonstrate offering an “affordable health coverage” to workers, defined as the minimum required by federal law. It’s the latest effort…
-
Costs explode for Colorado program covering pregnant women and children living in the U.S. illegally
A state program providing health care to pregnant women and children living in the country illegally is costing far more than lawmakers expected, with expenses nearly tripling in just a year and threatening to squeeze Colorado’s budget amid a nearly $1 billion shortfall. The program, launched in 2024, now enrolls more than 30,000 people and…
-
Costs explode for Colorado program covering pregnant women and children living in the U.S. illegally
A state program providing health care to pregnant women and children living in the country illegally is costing far more than lawmakers expected, with expenses nearly tripling in just a year and threatening to squeeze Colorado’s budget amid a $1 billion shortfall. Cover All Coloradans, launched in 2024, now enrolls more than 30,000 people and…
-
U.S. House probes reports of fraud, waste in Colorado’s Medicaid program
A congressional committee is probing reports of waste, fraud and abuse in Colorado’s Medicaid program, citing recent stories outlining over-billing in transportation spending and alleged improper payments in autism services. The U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce has sent a letter to Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and…