Source: KDVR
Representatives in the U.S. House advanced a budget bill late Tuesday night.
It proposed to cut billions of dollars in funding, but one particular area would have a major impact on Colorado’s economy if U.S. senators do not make changes.
Medicaid is funded by state and federal dollars. Colorado leaders say if the state does not get more funding from the federal government, our budget is in jeopardy.
“I was sharing with members the impact of Medicaid cuts including our freshmen Republican members from Colorado,” Governor Jared Polis told a gaggle of reporters in Washington, D.C.
Governor Polis is on Capitol Hill Wednesday, trying to reason with Republicans in the state who voted in favor of a plan with more than $2 trillion in spending cuts including $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid.
“People will literally lose their healthcare coverage if this House plan moves forward. I know it’s part just sort of step one of a multistep process. But I really hope at the end of the day, it doesn’t contain these harsh cuts,” the governor said.
His pleas come after all of Colorado’s republican members of Congress voted in favor of the bill. They are also calling on the state to take care of the Medicaid funding Colorado does have after the Office of the Inspector General in Colorado recently released a report stating the state paid more than $7 million in Medicaid payments for dead people.
“I am committed to making sure that we are good stewards to taxpayer money. We’re cutting fraud waste and abuse in order to deliver the maximum potential to folks who rely on this critical service and I hope that Colorado can join suite instead of their current trajectory which is funding illegal immigrants,” said freshman Republican Congressman Gabe Evans.
The push for federal funding comes as Colorado deals with its own billion-dollar budget deficit made up in part by obligations to match federal Medicaid dollars.
FOX31’s political analysts have different ideas about how state lawmakers should plan for the money as negotiations play out in Washington.
“If we get the money, then what does that look like to Colorado and how do we effectively use it and then meet all of our obligations? And then, there’s a scenario in which we don’t get it all. I think it’s smart to consider both, particularly when we have a new president, a new administration and a lot of momentum behind the MAGA movement to move government waste,” said FOX31 Political Analyst and Democratic strategist Andy Boian.
“We’ve had more revenue than ever come into the state of Colorado, the problem is on the spending side. Not just in healthcare, but across the board spending has been high. I mean every year they are still getting inflation plus population growth and they are missing the mark obviously. So I think any talk of them trying to throw that billion dollar deficit onto the federal government makes no sense,” said FOX31 Political Analyst and Republican Strategist Michael Fields.
The state’s Department of Healthcare Policy and Funding refuted the claims about payments for dead enrollees and said they will not be reimbursing the federal government the $6 million recommended by the OIG.
On the federal side of things, changes are expected to be made to the budget bill in the U.S. Senate.
