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Tag: SB26-187

Colorado Medicaid rolls fell 30 percent as spending climbed by $2 billion
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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...
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Who’s guiding Colorado’s Medicaid Commission? A closer look at the panel shaping future policy
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Who’s guiding Colorado’s Medicaid Commission? A closer look at the panel shaping future policy

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Meet the Medicaid Commission and their newly-hired advisor. Medicaid is a big line item in the state’s budget. It’s gotten so big, and eaten up so much of our state’s money, that our legislature has gathered up a commission. SB26-187 (linked first below) creates a (quoting from the bill summary): “… commission on Medicaid (commission) to develop recommendations regarding implementation of new federal Medicaid policy changes that go into effect in 2026, 2027, and 2028 and to support Coloradans impacted by those policy changes.” This commission will meet a few times and prepare a report to be used by the legislature in the 2027 session. Quoting from the bill’s fiscal note: “Between May 13, 2026, and December...
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Colorado’s $500,000 Medicaid commission has no mandate to investigate fraud
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s $500,000 Medicaid commission has no mandate to investigate fraud

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado lawmakers spent weeks debating a new commission to study Medicaid sustainability. The bill they sent to Gov. Jared Polis on May 9 names three major failures inside the state’s Medicaid system in its legislative declaration—the post-COVID eligibility purge, the rideshare scandal and the autism therapy audit. But the bill never directs the commission to investigate fraud, waste or abuse. Instead, SB26-187 creates a 10-member Medicaid Cost Containment and Sustainability Commission tasked with “establishing shared understanding,” exploring policy options and producing recommendations. The bill includes a $500,000 appropriation, including $415,000 for a contractor to facilitate meetings and roughly seven months to produce a report—due...
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