Medicaid

Colorado Republican Congress members rally behind Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

The Colorado Sun, Approved, National, State / / , , , , ,

President Donald Trump left a meeting with the Republican caucus Tuesday morning predicting a great victory.

His trek to the U.S. Capitol came as GOP leaders try to get his “big, beautiful bill” passed in the House this week.  

House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose party holds a slim majority, has been trying to stitch together a bill that can deliver on Trump’s agenda while threading the needle between his far right faction, his swing seat members, and others in the caucus, as the different factions seek opposing changes to the bill.

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Colorado’s gray wave drives up costs, exposes policy gaps

The Colorado Sun, Approved, State / / , , , , ,

“The only reality in the world is that we are going to get older and we’re going to die.”

Nobody can escape that reality, according to Christian Itin, a member of the Colorado Strategic Action Group on Aging.

“I think we need to remind folks that this will happen to me,” he said. “It will happen to you. It’ll happen to your family. We can’t put our heads in the sand and hide from that reality.”

In Colorado, the older population is growing fast, with ramifications for the major challenges the state already faces, notably housing, healthcare costs and workforce needs. It also affects student enrollment, which, in turn, means a direct impact on school financing.

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Colorado braces for special session over bloated Medicaid spending amid federal pressure

The Colorado Sun, Approved, National, State / / , , , , , ,

There are now only seven days left in Colorado’s legislative session. But lawmakers and other state officials have for weeks been bracing for the possibility of coming back to the Capitol later this year to deal with potential federal cuts to Medicaid likely to be included in Congressional Republicans’ still-being-written budget proposal.

“There certainly are a lot of indicators that would suggest that we might end up having to come back in the event that there’s a dramatic cut to Medicaid,” state Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat and member of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, said last month, as first reported in The Colorado Sun’s politics newsletter, The Unaffiliated.

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Enos: What rushed gender and abortion bills say about the legislature’s priorities

Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State / / , , , , , , , , ,

Transparency is not really our current General Assembly’s goal. We would like to believe that our state government works for us, but the majority party in charge is more concerned with covering its own tracks to avoid any repercussions of accountability with the voters. 

They also consider any opposing views or opinions to be dissent that must be squashed at all costs, even if it means forcibly gagging their opposition by disallowing all debate. This is not exactly an overflow of reasoned debate, which we would like to encourage amongst our lawmakers.

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Colorado taxpayers footed $7.3M bill for dead Medicaid enrollees, audit finds

denvergazette.com, Approved, State / / , , ,

Thousands of deceased Coloradans stayed on the state’s Medicaid rolls, as the state continued paying managed care organizations to cover them, a lapse federal investigators flagged as wasteful in a recent audit.

Colorado made an estimated $7.3 million in capitation payments between 2018 and 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG). The payments continued for some Coloradans months after their deaths because of outdated reporting and system delays, state officials said.

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Colorado bishops urge Polis to veto abortion funding bill

Catholic News Agency, Approved, State / / , , , , ,

The Colorado Catholic bishops are urging state Gov. Jared Polis to veto a bill that would put at least $1.5 million of public funding annually toward Medicaid-covered abortions.

The Tuesday open letter — co-signed by Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez of the Archdiocese of Denver, Bishop James Golka of Colorado Springs, and Bishop Stephen Berg of Pueblo — urged the governor “to consider the millions of Coloradans who do not want their hard-earned tax dollars to be used in the destruction of human life.”

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One Sunday, four laws and the collapse of middle ground in Colorado politics

Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories / / , , , , ,

With the clock ticking on the legislative session, Colorado Democrats made their move—advancing four of the year’s most polarizing bills in a single day – Sunday. The marathon legislative blitz was notable not only for its controversial content, but for how it was executed: through rare weekend floor time, party-line votes and multiple Rule 16 motions that cut off debate and silenced opposing voices.

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Ballooning Medicaid costs, TABOR limits expose flaws in Colorado’s big government spending spree

State, Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories / / , , , ,

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board After years of overreach and unchecked government growth, Colorado lawmakers are now scrambling to plug a $1.2 billion hole in the state budget —

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Rep. Gabe Evans defends GOP spending bill as Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Rep. Joe Neguse warn it will slash Medicaid

Approved, CBS Colorado, State / / , ,

The Republican spending bill is helping unite the Democratic Party after days of infighting over a GOP resolution to avert a shutdown. Party leaders called for a Medicaid Day of Action to protest the spending bill that they say will mean drastic cuts to Medicaid.

Rep. Gabe Evans defends GOP spending bill as Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Rep. Joe Neguse warn it will slash Medicaid Read More »