Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Commission On Medicaid

Colorado Medicaid rolls fell 30 percent as spending climbed by $2 billion
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado Medicaid rolls fell 30 percent as spending climbed by $2 billion

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado Medicaid covered about 510,000 fewer people in an average month in fiscal 2025 than it did two years earlier. Estimated spending still climbed. That is part of the puzzle a new legislative commission has been handed.  When the state unwound the pandemic-era rule that kept people continuously enrolled, average monthly enrollment fell roughly 30 percent between fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2025. Common sense says a program covering far fewer people should cost less. Colorado's cost more.  A September brief from the Common Sense Institute puts the increase at an estimated $2.09 billion, a 15 percent jump. Fewer members. Higher costs. Less room to move. What the state pays per person The clearest w...
Colorado Lawmakers Grapple With Strict Rules for $200 Million Rural Health Program
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Grapple With Strict Rules for $200 Million Rural Health Program

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Members of the Colorado legislature’s new Commission on Medicaid raised concerns Wednesday about the federal Rural Health Transformation Program created under H.R. 1. The bipartisan, bicameral commission, created in the last legislative session to guide implementation of Medicaid changes under H.R. 1, met Wednesday to begin shaping its recommendations. Cristen Bates, deputy Medicaid director at the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, told members that Colorado is slated to receive $200 million in federal funding each year for the next five years to support rural health care initiatives. CMS requires states to apply for the Rural Health Transformation Program by November, with awards expected by year’s...