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$2.3B at risk? House Republicans press Polis to end Medicaid funding for illegals
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

$2.3B at risk? House Republicans press Polis to end Medicaid funding for illegals

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics Three Republican members of Colorado's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives are urging Gov. Jared Polis to work with legislators to end state spending on health care coverage for undocumented immigrants — or risk losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding. "We write to you expressing grave concerns over Colorado’s continued policy of covering illegal immigrants with state Medicaid funds — prioritizing benefits for those unlawfully present in our country over citizens who need it the most: individuals with disabilities, single mothers, children, and seniors," U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans wrote in a letter delivered to the Democratic governor on Thursday. The letter was also signed by U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert and Jeff Cr...
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‘Big Beautiful Bill’: Boebert and Evans tout as win for families and national security
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Approved, DENVER7, National, State

‘Big Beautiful Bill’: Boebert and Evans tout as win for families and national security

By Brandon Richard | Denver7 Protesters from progressive groups disrupt Republican lawmakers' press conference with chants DENVER — U.S. Representatives Gabe Evans and Lauren Boebert defended their support for President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cut and spending bill on Thursday, as protesters attempted to drown them out during a press conference at the Colorado State Capitol. As the Colorado Republicans touted the bill’s economic and public safety benefits, they were met with constant chants and signs from protesters who accused them of cutting vital programs like Medicaid. “It’s really unfortunate, as a mother of four boys and a grandmother, that I see more order in my home with children than I do with radical leftists,” Boebert said, responding to the disruptions. Despi...
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Colorado Republican Congress members rally behind Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
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Approved, National, State, The Colorado Sun

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

By Caitlyn Kim | The Colorado Sun House leaders are trying to pass the massive package with Republican votes alone. Trump came to the Capitol Tuesday morning to convince the holdouts to back the bill. 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. “Anybody that didn’t support [the bil...
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Medicaid bill targets Colorado over health care for illegal immigrants
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Approved, DENVER7, State

Medicaid bill targets Colorado over health care for illegal immigrants

By Brandon Richard | Denver7 DENVER — A bill that would overhaul Medicaid and penalize states like Colorado that provide state-funded health care coverage to undocumented immigrants advanced in a U.S. House committee on Wednesday. Denver7 is keeping an eye on the lengthy debates in Congress over the so-called "big, beautiful bill" that would extend and increase tax cuts by making cuts to Medicaid and other benefit programs. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said several committees worked all night and have now passed their portions of the bill. He hopes to pass it in the full House and send it to the U.S. Senate before Memorial Day. READ THE FULL STORY AT DENVER7
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Colorado’s gray wave drives up costs, exposes policy gaps
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

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

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics “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.  Many have sounded the alarm over Colorado's graying population, saying thi...
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Colorado braces for special session over bloated Medicaid spending amid federal pressure
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Approved, National, State, The Colorado Sun

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

By John Ingold | Colorado Sun 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. Speaking to a group of health care leaders earlier this mo...
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Enos: What rushed gender and abortion bills say about the legislature’s priorities
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Approved, Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Commentary, State

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

By Colleen Enos | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice 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. For example, HB25-1312, Legal Protections for Transgender Individuals, was introduced in the State House on Friday, March 28th, at the end of the day and assigned to the J...
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Colorado taxpayers footed $7.3M bill for dead Medicaid enrollees, audit finds
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

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

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette 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. Simply stated, capitation payments are fixed monthly fees paid to managed care organizations for each Medicaid enrollee. “We know that there is fraud, waste, and abuse in the system that we have...
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Colorado bishops urge Polis to veto abortion funding bill
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Approved, Catholic News Agency, State

Colorado bishops urge Polis to veto abortion funding bill

By Kate Quinones | Catholic News Agency 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.” The legislation would require the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to cover abortions for Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus participants. The bill passed...
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One Sunday, four laws and the collapse of middle ground in Colorado politics
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

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

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice 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. https://twitter.com/RepCaldwell/status/1908586233632071742 "Because of the actions today, I would request that this bill be read at length—and every other bill after this," said Rep. Ron Weinberg, responding to the procedural move that ended discussion on one of the bills.  House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese added, "Col...
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