Colorado board adopts emergency rules to add abortion coverage to Medicaid and CHIP

The Colorado Medical Services Board voted to adopt emergency revisions to Medicaid and CHIP rules that add abortion care to state-funded coverage, implementing Amendment 79 and Senate Bill 25-183 with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2026.

Rachel Larson, a compliance and policy adviser for the Department of Health Care Policy & Financing, told the board the rules align departmental policy with the constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2024 and the implementing legislation signed by Gov. Polis on April 24, 2025. "These rule proposals are brought today as emergency rules to comply with Amendment 79 and SB 25-183," Larson said during her presentation.

Public testimony included registered nurse Jay Hope, who told the board the changes are “essential to protecting patient privacy, dignity, and access to necessary health care” and urged the board to adopt the rules as written.

Board members asked whether parental-notification statutes for minors would change; Amy Dixon, the department’s benefits-division director, answered that the emergency rules do not alter other statutory requirements, including parental notification. "This is only directing the department to cover abortion care using state funds," Dixon said.

The board approved the emergency adoption of document 5 (MSB 25-04-28-a) — the Medicaid rule change — on a recorded voice roll call. Chris Sykes reported the tally as eight yes, one no (David Pump), and one abstention (Christina Mulkey). The board then approved the related CHIP rule (document 6, CHP 25-07-1-a) in a separate motion with the same recorded outcome.

The department said technical edits were included (renumbering, replacing "client" with "member," changing references to Health First Colorado) and that some documentation previously required will be removed. Stakeholder engagement and a Q&A log informed the draft; the department stated no substantive changes were made after stakeholder review. The department presented the rules as necessary to meet the statutory and constitutional deadlines.

Next steps: the emergency rules go into effect Jan. 1, 2026, and the department will continue stakeholder engagement for permanent adoption following the emergency period.

Ending: The two emergency adoptions were approved by the board; the department will proceed with implementation and return to the board for any required permanent rulemaking.