Tag: medicaid
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EDITORIAL: Colorado’s Medicaid monster devours the budget
What goes up, must come down — except when it comes to Colorado’s mushrooming Medicaid spending, it seems. Even as the number of people enrolled in the government health insurance program for the poor and disabled has declined, its cost continues to spiral upward. A Common Sense Institute analysis released last week found the number…
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Healthcare freefall: Economic ripple effects grow as Colorado hospitals face financial strain
Colorado’s hospital systems aren’t just a network of clinics and emergency rooms — they are also one of the state’s largest economic engines. So some 10 hospitals identified at any given time as vulnerable to closure, the alarm extends far beyond patient care. Hospitals anchor local workforces, sustain regional economies and stabilize entire communities —…
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Healthcare Freefall: Finger‑pointing intensifies as Colorado’s healthcare system strains under rising costs, shrinking coverage
Editor’s Note: Colorado’s healthcare system is entering a period of accelerating instability — a “tsunami,” as multiple leaders describe it — driven by collapsing hospital finances, shrinking Medicaid reimbursements, disappearing services and a political fight over who is responsible for this unraveling. Healthcare Freefall is a multipart series examining how Colorado arrived at this moment,…
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EDITORIAL: Colorado’s latest Medicaid pratfall
It might have been easier to discount audit findings of state Medicaid mismanagement reported last week — if they weren’t the latest among many such findings. In reality, it’s another episode in Colorado’s ongoing Medicaid meltdown. And while the state bureaucrats charged with overseeing the health insurance program for the poor are insisting the audit’s…
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Colorado faces $8M repayment demand after federal Medicaid audit
Colorado failed to follow federal and state requirements for certain Medicaid personal care service payments, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general, which is now seeking an $8 million repayment from the state. Additionally, HHS is restricting another $45.7 million in federal payments while the state and…
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Aurora church tied to group that exploited homeless people is under scrutiny
Two regional Seventh-day Adventist conferences that oversee the activities of its member churches across several states have launched inquiries into an Aurora-based congregation tied to a Medicaid operation that exploited the homeless. The Rocky Mountain Conference and the Central States Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist church — based in Denver and Kansas City, Kansas, respectively,…
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Colorado kids’ health, education challenges persist, report shows
Despite having one of the country’s highest median incomes, Colorado families are struggling to afford essentials like food, housing, health care and child care. That’s according to the Colorado Children’s Campaign, which released its annual Kids Count report recently. It provides an overview of how the state’s infants, children and teens are faring compared to…
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Colorado hospitals poised to receive $455 million Medicaid funding boost
After years of losing out on the federal dollars, Colorado has been approved to tap a well-known Medicaid financing tool that is expected to bring more than $450 million to hospitals. Colorado did not pursue the financing tool until more recently, with hospital system executives earlier saying that decision had “set Colorado back.” The Centers…
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Colorado health officials say federal budget adds pressure to already stressed system
As the first anniversary of H.R. 1 approaches, Colorado Democrats and hospital executives say the law’s Medicaid reductions and eligibility rules are accelerating financial stress in a system where many facilities were already operating on the brink. Signed by President Trump on July 4 last year, H.R. 1, which the president has nicknamed the “one…
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EDITORIAL: Colorado’s mushrooming Medicaid begs for abuse
“Build it, and they will come,” the popular expression goes. We’d add, fund it — and the hustlers will come, too. Hence, the findings of an in-depth investigation by The Gazette’s news staff last month into alleged, rampant overbilling of the state’s Medicaid program by a network of service providers for the homeless in Aurora.…