Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Children Medicaid Waivers topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate committee backs bill to preserve, merge children's home-and-community waiver programs
Summary
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee advanced House Bill 25-1003 to the committee of the whole with a favorable recommendation, a move sponsors say will create a new Children with Complex Health Needs waiver to preserve services for more than 2,500 children and avoid interruptions in Health First Colorado coverage.
Senator Cutter urged the Senate Health and Human Services Committee to advance House Bill 25-1003, legislation to merge two Medicaid home-and-community-based services waivers for children and establish state authority for a new Children with Complex Health Needs waiver.
The measure, sponsors and department officials said, would combine the Children’s Home and Community-Based Services waiver (CHCBS) and the Children with Life-Limiting Illness waiver (CLLI) into a single waiver to “streamline home and community based services for children's waiver programs, expand access to service and ... ensure current CHCBS waiver members have continued access to waiver services,” Senator Cutter said.
The bill’s sponsor and department witnesses said the change is intended to prevent interruptions in Health First Colorado coverage for affected children. Carson Covey, policy advocate for Family Voices Colorado and the Family Coalition, told the committee the waiver provides services including counseling, therapy, palliative care, respite and broader in‑home support, and that the new waiver will maintain current services and add wellness education benefits. “Implementation starts on 07/01/2025 with a transition period for enrollment until 06/30/2026,” Covey said during testimony.
Lana Eggers, who oversees home and community based waiver services at the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, said the department sponsored the bill and that it is one of the agency’s top priorities. Eggers explained that an upcoming shift — the planned transition of the in‑home support services benefit to Community First Choice in July — would leave only a single service in the existing CHCBS waiver and jeopardize the federal authority that supports the waiver. “Without the federal authority for the waiver, current CHCBS waiver members may be at risk for losing access to important waiver services and in some cases Health First Colorado entirely,” Eggers said. She told lawmakers the bill would ensure more than 2,500 children continue to receive critical services and that the change was already reflected in fiscal-year 2023–24 budget amendment 7.
Committee members had no substantive questions after the testimony, and Senator Cutter moved the bill to the committee of the whole with a favorable recommendation. The motion was put to a roll call and the committee recorded the motion as passing; the clerk announced the measure would be placed on the consent calendar.
Why it matters: Sponsors and department staff say the bill preserves federal waiver authority and continuity of services when an existing service moves to another federal option, and it expands eligibility and program features (including wellness education) that the department and advocates said will benefit medically complex children and their families.
What remains: The committee recorded that the bill would be placed on the consent calendar; the transcript did not specify additional substantive amendments during committee. The department testified there is no fiscal note for the bill and that related startup funding was included in a prior budget amendment. No committee amendments were offered at the hearing, and the sponsor requested a favorable vote.
