How Medicaid growth is crowding Colorado’s budget priorities

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project

Medicaid and Colorado’s Spending on Same

I wanted to share Nash Herman’s op ed from Complete Colorado with you. I will leave it to you to read it in full, but there are a couple of pertinent things to share.

The op ed does a good job of providing an overview of what will likely be a big issue this legislative session: Colorado’s Medicaid spending, a largely self-caused injury.

In typical government fashion, the relevant state department, the Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing, engaged a third party and paid them $600K to study the issue.

The contractor came back and recommended that, quoting the op ed, “… the state should prioritize reductions in behavioral health, long-term services & supports (LTSS), pediatric behavioral therapy (PBT), and pharmacy, given their higher cost growth relative to other areas.”

This report, as Mr. Herman points out, cannot outrun the desire of state politicians to keep the government goodies flowing to their preferred special interest groups, and so likely the conversation among Democrats will hover over familiar territory.

If it weren’t for TABOR we’d have no problems. If only we could spend more, our problems would be gone.

I cannot for the life of me understand this level of blinkered ignorance. We have spent and spent and spent and the problems have only gotten bigger over time. Thinking we can spend our way out of it is beyond foolish.

Put in Mr. Herman’s words, I’ll leave you with this question. Should Colorado “… sacrifice the state’s economic success and fiscal responsibility just to sustain the welfare-industrial complex?”

https://completecolorado.com/2026/01/18/colorado-due-reckoning-runaway-medicaid-costs/

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RE-1 Valley’s New School Board Comment Policy

I saw a news item in my local paper about my school district (RE-1 Valley) updating their public comment policy for school board meetings.

As public comment is a big thing for me, I wanted to update you in case you live in RE-1. If you don’t and are curious at your school board’s comment policy, ask.

Doing so is how I got a copy of RE-1’s policy which I link to at bottom.

Read the policy in full so you understand what it calls for, but there are some highlights worth special mention. The first is that you must now sign up ahead of time and email prior to the meeting.

Quoting the policy:

“Those requesting to speak in front of the Board must contact [email protected] before 12:00 pm on the day of the School Board meeting. In the email, please state your name, address, and your eligibility to speak (see above).”

It doesn’t say in the policy, but if you’re not an emailer, my guess is that you can also call the district at (970) 522-0792 and inquire about speaking (along with giving the information).

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.