Budget Cuts

Medicaid took the brunt of the final reductions, include a reimbursement rate cut for providers and a cap on Cover All Coloradans, which provides health care to immigrants who are children or pregnant.

Colorado’s Medicaid spending has grown dramatically in recent years, making it tough for the state’s budget writers to avoid deep cuts to the program.

Colorado's budget shortfall was $500 million higher than earlier projections.

The news was met with shock from state lawmakers, who have been reeling in recent weeks as they cut Medicaid and other state services to address a $1 billion budget shortfall.

Family caregivers are worried the cuts will jeopardize their livelihoods and ability to support their loved ones. Lawmakers and public health officials say they have no choice but to make them.

Nonpartisan staffers told lawmakers this month that the way they spent billions of dollars in one-time federal funds given to Colorado during the COVID pandemic contributed to the state’s budget shortfall.

The federal government shutdown delayed the release of key business and labor data, leaving forecasters in the dark about the true state of the economy.

On Tuesday morning, around a hundred people gathered on the west steps of the state Capitol.

Over the last decade Medicaid spending has risen at a rate of 8.8% a year — about double what the state government is allowed to spend under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, according to the governor’s office.

One reason is that the state is paying out more to lower income residents through targeted tax credits.