{"id":143358,"date":"2025-08-13T21:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T21:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/143358\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T21:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T21:16:10","slug":"five-numbers-to-know-as-colorado-navigates-looming-health-care-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/143358\/","title":{"rendered":"Five numbers to know as Colorado navigates looming health care cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senior health care leaders in Colorado said they aim to keep as many residents covered on Medicaid as possible as the state faces deep cuts to the health care program laid out in the\u00a0 federal tax and spending bill<\/a> that passed last month.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing<\/a>, which accounts for about a third of the state\u2019s annual $44 billion budget<\/a>, held a webinar Monday with stakeholders, including providers and enrollees. The agency manages Health First Colorado<\/a>, the Medicaid program for low-income Coloradans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur North Star goal is to mitigate the loss of coverage and its catastrophic consequences to Coloradans, providers and the economy,\u201d said Kim Bimestefer<\/a> executive director of Colorado Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing.<\/p>\n

Just how many Coloradans could lose coverage is unclear, but numbers they reviewed indicate it\u2019ll be in the hundreds of thousands.<\/p>\n

\u201dOur goal: Avoid draconian cuts to Medicaid,\u201d Bimestefer said on the two-hour call with almost 2,400 people joining virtually.<\/p>\n

Bimestefer\u2019s team said they\u2019re focused on making the most of available federal funds and finding savings wherever possible. One big challenge is a tight state budget, which faces a $1 billion shortfall. The governor has called a special session<\/a> next week to deal with it.<\/p>\n

Bimestefer gave a bit of a pep talk to providers and Medicaid members and others on the call who\u2019ve been rocked by the looming changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet’s step back and say, \u2018We are Colorado.\u2019 This is a difficult time. We are Coloradans and we are innovative. We pull ourselves up by our boost straps. We collaborate. We’re smart,\u201d she said. \u201cWe lead. So we pull together and we climb this mountain. That’s what we do. We climb mountains here in Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her team also spotlighted one potential bright spot. The state has made a last-minute application aimed at easing the force of reductions in Medicaid spending. If approved by the administration, it could mean Colorado could see $378 million<\/a> in new federal funding a year, according to the Colorado Sun. Those funds would help but would not approach replacing the amount of money the state is set to lose.<\/p>\n

Colorado could also get a chunk of money from the bill\u2019s Rural Health Transformation Program<\/a>. That funding will provide $50 billion across the country, half of which will be split evenly between states with approved applications. Details are expected to be announced at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Here are five key numbers included in the webinar.<\/p>\n

Funds for the coverage of 425,000 Coloradans will be cut from ratcheting down of hospital provider fee<\/strong><\/p>\n

The bill reduces what are called hospital provider fees and related federal funding. Starting in October 2027, this will significantly cut funds to cover Medicaid and the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program, known as CHP+.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cColorado’s provider fee, keep in mind, finances multiple populations,\u201d said Bimestefer during the call.<\/p>\n

Federal funding collected through the health care policy department, through the Colorado Healthcare Affordability and Sustainability Enterprise will decrease, Bimestefer wrote on the agency\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That money pays to care for more than 425,000 Coloradans covered under the Medicaid expansion, buy-in programs for people with disabilities and CHP+ and pregnant women, she said. <\/p>\n

Those funds also significantly increase reimbursements to Colorado\u2019s hospitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beginning in fall\u00a0 2027, the total in federal funds states can draw down drops each year by 0.5 percent. That will result in an estimated loss of more than $115 million in provider fees that can be collected from hospitals and a decline of about $180 million to $525 million in federal matching funds for hospital reimbursement or expansion coverage, depending on policy decisions made by state leaders, Bimestefer wrote.<\/p>\n

More than 377,000 Coloradans will have to abide by new Medicaid rules, including work requirements<\/p>\n

The new law requires enrollees who are \u201cable bodied\u201d to prove they are working.<\/p>\n

This is expected to dramatically hit what\u2019s called the Medicaid expansion population, those who gained coverage when Medicaid expanded after the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, launched more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Within a year, \u201cwe’ll understand better what able bodied means.\u201d said Bimestefer, noting state program administrators are waiting for information from the Trump administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe individuals have to either work, be in a work training program, go to school, or volunteer at least 80 hours a month,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is a big deal. So that threat is a threat to people being able to get through the system to stay eligible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s program, under the new law, will need to determine a person\u2019s eligibility for Medicaid twice a year, which is expected to be a major administrative undertaking.<\/p>\n

Bimestefer said the agency will work to avoid Coloradans losing coverage, which will have a major impact on providers, who are paid by the government to care for those people, and for the economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo getting through eligibility twice a year instead of once is a barrier. We want to make sure people don’t fall off the rosters because they couldn’t get through the process,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to make sure people know what they need to do in order to go through those work requirements and satisfy them.\u201d<\/p>\n

100,000 people who buy insurance through the state\u2019s health care marketplace are estimated to lose coverage<\/p>\n

Many Coloradans who buy insurance through the state\u2019s health insurance marketplace are expected to lose it<\/a> as what are called federal enhanced premium tax credits expire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Congress has so far not renewed those credits, which help tens of thousands of Coloradans afford to pay for it.<\/p>\n

Roughly 112,000 people \u2013 43 percent of those now enrolled via Connect for Health Colorado<\/a> \u2013 could lose health insurance coverage, according to the marketplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 86 percent of Coloradans on the marketplace exchange get some sort of subsidy,\u201d said Bimestefer.<\/p>\n

14,000 Planned Parenthood patients covered by Medicaid could lose coverage<\/p>\n

As of July 4, the new law blocked patients<\/a> in Colorado from using Medicaid health care plans at Planned Parenthood clinics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Congressional Republicans passed a provision in the budget reconciliation bill<\/a>, which was signed by President Trump, that effectively defunds the clinics. The law didn’t specifically name Planned Parenthood. However, it barred Medicaid payments to large health care nonprofits that offer abortions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This part of the law is currently being fought out in the courts<\/a>, after the national organization, which has clinics in Colorado run by Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, sued the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 14,000 individuals use their clinics at some point during the year. We’re working with our health plans to connect those folks to needed services,\u201d said Rachel Reiter, HCPF\u2019s Policy, Communications and Administration Office Director. \u201cThis provision is under current litigation, which we are watching very closely.\u201d<\/p>\n

7,000 legal immigrants expected to lose health coverage<\/p>\n

The new law prohibits Medicaid health coverage for certain legal immigrants \u201cunder the federal definition of what’s called a \u2018qualified alien,\u2019 like asylum seekers, refugees, victims of trafficking or domestic violence,\u201d said Reiter. \u201cWe expect about 7,000 to lose coverage because of this provision.\u201d<\/p>\n

This change will take effect in October 2026.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how many people fall into more than one category of groups affected by the cuts.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senior health care leaders in Colorado said they aim to keep as many residents covered on Medicaid as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":143359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[85109,17667,210,1141,1142,3584,6501,3170,67,132,68,15649],"class_list":{"0":"post-143358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-affordable-care-act-aca-obamacare","9":"tag-childrens-health","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-care","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-hospitals","14":"tag-immigrants","15":"tag-medicaid","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-womens-health"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115023536611487737","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}