Tag: medicaid
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Colorado Supreme Court weighs transgender services case involving Children’s Hospital and federal threats
Some members of the Colorado Supreme Court expressed discomfort on April 14 with having to decide whether to order Children’s Hospital Colorado to resume providing certain services to transgender children, which could trigger a “death sentence” if the federal government imposes consequences. “I’m assuming there’s no middle ground here with the federal administration, in terms…
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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…
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EDITORIAL: Taking the fall for Colorado’s Medicaid mess
When news broke last week that Kim Bimestefer, executive director of Colorado’s Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, was stepping down, it became clear who was going to bear the official blame for a widespread failure of management and policy on Medicaid. But there’s blame to go around. The nonpartisan Common Sense Institute found…
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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…
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EDITORIAL: Scapegoating employers for lawmakers’ Medicaid madness
Any large employers still on the fence about expanding in Colorado and creating jobs here are likely to look elsewhere after they get wind of a bill now making its way through the legislature. House Bill 26-1327, sponsored by state Rep. Lisa Feret, D-Arvada, would assess Colorado’s largest employers thousands of dollars for each employee…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…