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‘I’m not running for me’: The everyman challenging Boesenecker in HD53
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

‘I’m not running for me’: The everyman challenging Boesenecker in HD53

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Daniel Frick did not like politics growing up. He thought it was drama and theater, the same way, he figures, most people do. Then his stepdaughter was hit by a car and left permanently disabled, and the family found itself in what he calls the dark corners of the state, where her case sat forgotten. Now he is a Republican running for Colorado House District 53, a Democratic-held Fort Collins seat. By Frick's telling, the district has been blue since 1986. "I'm not running for me. I'm running for Carissa," Frick said. "I'm fighting for Carissa. That's what this whole campaign is about, getting justice, holding people accountable and changing our state's political system so that other people don't end up like Carissa an...
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Colorado Sues Trump Administration Over Medicaid Funding for Gender Transitions for Minors
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Sues Trump Administration Over Medicaid Funding for Gender Transitions for Minors

By Thelma Grimes | The Denver Gazette Colorado on Wednesday filed yet another lawsuit against the Trump administration — this time to stop a new rule that prohibits Medicaid dollars from paying for transgender transition services for minors. The question of transgender services has increasingly become a core election matter in Colorado. This November, residents will vote on two measures that implicate the question. Phil Weiser, the attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, announced that Colorado joined a coalition of states challenging the Trump administration’s “attempt to prohibit states from using federal Medicaid funds for gender-affirming healthcare for low-income minors or some young adults.” Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicai...
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Colorado Mother Blames Immigration Policies After Daughter Left Severely Disabled
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Real Clear Politics, Approved, National

Colorado Mother Blames Immigration Policies After Daughter Left Severely Disabled

By Ian Schwartz | Real Clear Politics https://twitter.com/cspan/status/2094811461709082986?s=20 Patricia Fox, whose daughter Carissa was a victim of a hit-and-run accident committed by an illegal alien, slammed Democrats at a House Judiciary Committee’s Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee. According to FOX News, Carissa underwent emergency surgery to remove part of her skull and relieve brain swelling. She is now minimally conscious, nonverbal, wheelchair-bound, and fed through a G-tube. PATRICIA FOX: Wouldn't be the same. Because of an American citizen had hit my daughter. I wouldn't be here asking why was somebody who had no lawful right to be in this country here to hit her in the first place. Valeria Bermudez-Marcano wouldn'...
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Rural Hospitals Deploy AI to Fight AI as Claim Denials Add Financial Pressure
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Rural Hospitals Deploy AI to Fight AI as Claim Denials Add Financial Pressure

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics 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, what H.R. 1 will do next and why communities across the state are bracing for deeper shocks. Rural hospitals in Colorado say they are being pulled into a technological fight they didn’t choose. Hospitals said insurance companies have deployed artificial intelligence to deny claims faster and more efficiently, and they are scrambling to adopt the...
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New Federal Rule Ends Medicaid Funding for Some Youth Gender Treatments in Colorado
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

New Federal Rule Ends Medicaid Funding for Some Youth Gender Treatments in Colorado

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun The new rule blocks federal dollars from being spent on the care. The change will affect hundreds of transgender youth in Colorado. Colorado will suspend Medicaid coverage for hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care for transgender youth due to a new federal rule, the state agency that oversees the program said. The rule, finalized earlier this month, blocks federal funds from being used to pay for the care for youth. Specifically, the rule applies to coverage for people under 18 who are covered by Medicaid and people under 19 who are covered by a companion program called CHIP, which in Colorado is known as CHP+. The rule affects coverage for hormone therapy and puberty blockers, as well as other procedures. It do...
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Untangling Colorado’s home care Medicaid, one waiver at a time
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Untangling Colorado’s home care Medicaid, one waiver at a time

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Untangling a (rather hefty) reader statement about Medicaid. Be forewarned, the government programs and acronyms pile up fast here. I'll try my best to get around that, but read carefully and slowly.It's been a while because it's taken a while to learn it, but this post is in response to a reader comment about combining some of Colorado's Medicaid services under one banner. Before we can touch on that, however, we have to do some prerequisite work first. A Medicaid waiver seems at first to have no connection to what it actually is, but if you stop and reason it out, the word makes sense. Remember that Medicaid is a program that is run by states, and the states partly fund it. The feds also fund Medicaid via matching dol...
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Colorado Rural Hospitals Fight to Survive as Costs and Regulations Mount
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Rural Hospitals Fight to Survive as Costs and Regulations Mount

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics 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, what H.R. 1 will do next and why communities across the state are bracing for deeper shocks. Healthcare Freefall Colorado’s rural hospitals are facing severe financial strain — with 75% operating on unsustainable margins and some worrying they may have to close. Southwest Health CEO John Theine said the situation is especially frustrating, given ...
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Democrats Launch Spanish Language Ad Against Gabe Evans in Key Colorado House Race
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Democrats Launch Spanish Language Ad Against Gabe Evans in Key Colorado House Race

By Ernest Luning | The Denver Gazette A national group tied to House Democratic leadership launched a six-figure Spanish-language TV ad in Colorado this week targeting Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans and the GOP’s signature budget legislation. The 30-second spot is part of $15 million in new TV and digital ad reservations announced earlier this week by House Majority Forward, a nonprofit affiliated with House Majority PAC, covering 19 targeted House districts across the country. The ad is set to run through August on an initial buy of just under $200,000, Punchbowl’s Ally Mutnick reported. Evans is seeking reelection to a second term in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, the state’s most competitive seat. He’s facing a challenge from state Rep. Man...
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White House Pushes Congress To Strengthen Welfare Fraud Laws After Task Force Findings
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The Federalist, Approved, National

White House Pushes Congress To Strengthen Welfare Fraud Laws After Task Force Findings

By: Breccan F. Thies | The Federalist Welfare programs were created in a ‘high trust’ America that no longer exists. THE WHITE HOUSE — Vice President J.D. Vance has been leading the charge against billions in taxpayer fraud. But to mobilize the entire federal government in combating the theft, Vance said Wednesday, Congress needs to create harsher punishments for fraudsters and force states to share data for welfare recipients. Vance hosted a roundtable with members of Congress at the White House midweek, attempting to hammer out plans for legislation to strengthen the executive branch’s ability to investigate fraud and expand prosecutors’ options to penalize Americans and illegals committing fraud. Since the start of Vance’s anti-fraud task force, the gr...
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Colorado Lawmakers Grapple With Strict Rules for $200 Million Rural Health Program
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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...
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