Medicaid delays jeopardize essential services
After the COVID-19 public health emergency, all states — including Colorado — began disenrolling individuals and families from Medicaid. The goal was to end services for people who no longer qualify for Medicaid. But the process in Colorado wrongfully ended coverage for many who still qualify. This put at-home care for these individuals – many of whom can’t move around or care for themselves independently – at risk.
Patients left stranded without care
More than half a million people in Colorado have been disenrolled from Medicaid since May of 2023. Compared with other states, Colorado has disenrolled a disproportionately high amount of its Medicaid population. These aren’t just numbers, they’re people with very real needs that are met by Medicaid services:
When people who are eligible for Medicaid lose access to vital care and services, it leaves them without options, and without hope.
Medicaid Delays
This CBS News Colorado report chronicles how Colorado families caring for individuals with long-term disabilities have faced severe challenges due to technical issues within Colorado’s Medicaid system. Tech problems disrupted claims and delayed critical benefits, straining caregivers like Jan Taylor, whose daughter Tessa requires daily medications for epilepsy and therapies for cerebral palsy. Many families reported being caught in procedural loops, repeatedly resubmitting paperwork as the state’s outdated case management systems fail to properly process information. Advocates from the Colorado Center on Law and Policy filed a civil rights complaint, alleging discrimination against people with disabilities, and the state promised to fix issues and has offered temporary benefit extensions. Watch the story.
“We need to pause those procedural terminations so that, to put it bluntly, people aren’t harmed and people don’t die because they’ve lost access to life-saving Medicaid coverage that, for some of them, they use every single day.”
“The simultaneous efforts to renew eligibility for all Medicaid enrollees during unwinding and revamp the case management system have resulted in ongoing, improper terminations of coverage for many Coloradans with disabilities, their inability to access needed services and benefits, and significant confusion and stress for them.”
“I had to keep submitting the paperwork over and over again … and I get asked for the same paperwork three, four, six, 12 times. We had to cancel all of [my daughter’s] therapies, all of her specialist appointments, and go to the back of the list.” - Jan, mother of a child with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, told CBSNews Colorado.”
Why It Matters
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Threatens access to critical care
Without Medicaid services, children and other patients can face severe health consequences.
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Affects vulnerable populations
Medicaid services are a critical lifeline for some of our state’s most vulnerable populations.
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Risks violation of federal laws
Colorado has an obligation to provide essential Medicaid services to qualified Coloradans.
Resources & Updates
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Medicaid problems rampant as state agency tries to address computer issues
The Colorado Sun
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Colorado’s Medicaid insurance terminations seventh highest in nation
North Forty News
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CO Medicaid is discriminating against people with disabilities, fed complaint
The Colorado Sun