Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Medicaid Supplemental topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Appropriations Committee advances Medicaid supplemental after hours of testimony on provider cuts
Summary
The House Appropriations Committee moved a Health Care Policy & Financing supplemental (House Bill 11 55) to the Committee of the Whole after extended testimony warning that proposed provider rate reductions — including lowering many rates to 85% of Medicare — could reduce pediatric and rural access to care. The measure passed the committee 9–2.
House Appropriations Committee Chair Brown and the committee advanced House Bill 11 55, a supplemental budget package for the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, after more than an hour of witness testimony and member discussion.
The bill includes a wide range of adjustments to Medicaid and related programs: reductions to some supplemental payments, federal match adjustments, changes to CHIP and non-emergency medical transportation, a revocation-driven reduction tied to continuous coverage ($5,600,000 cited by the sponsor), and a policy to reduce many provider rates to 85% of Medicare where rates exceeded that level. The sponsor said the reductions are part of a broader set of actions to reconcile a shortfall created by recent budget changes and a prior executive order following the special session.
Why it matters: Witnesses told the committee the rate changes could sharply harm access for children and rural patients and destabilize providers. Ian Goldstein, co‑founder of SOAR Autism Center, said the proposed pediatric behavioral-therapy cuts would be “a deliberate and targeted attack on 2 year olds and 3 year olds with autism,” and urged removal of the relevant section of the supplemental. Dr. Cassie Littler, a community pediatrician testifying for the Colorado chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said eliminating access‑stabilization payments would weaken pediatric practices that already operate on thin margins and risk reduced immunizations, screening and timely care: “When pediatric practices lose financial stability, we see fewer well child visits, delayed immunizations, reduced developmental screenings, longer wait times for behavioral health care, and increased emergency department use.”
Anesthesia providers and rural health advocates also raised alarms. Dr. Michael Allender, chief of cardiac anesthesia at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, said anesthesia Medicaid cuts already enacted and the new proposals make recruiting anesthesiologists and CRNAs difficult and threaten access to critical services including obstetric anesthesia. Kelly Logue of the Colorado Association of Nurse Anesthesiology said cuts would be absorbed by hospitals operating on “razor thin margins” and warned that reduced reimbursement can force hospitals to reduce service lines or close obstetric units.
Committee discussion and outcome: Representative Soper and others pressed sponsors on geographic impacts and whether rate reductions reflected caseload or per‑case cost increases. Sponsors and staff tied some reductions to an executive order and to large, previously identified revenue impacts. After testimony and member remarks, Madam Vice Chair moved the bill to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation. The motion passed on a roll call vote of 9 to 2.
What’s next: The committee’s favorable recommendation sends HB 11 55 to the Committee of the Whole, where members will continue debate and may consider floor amendments. The committee record contains multiple witness statements urging amendments to restore pediatric and rural stabilization payments.
Ending note: The bill represents a central fiscal trade-off in the session — efforts to control rapid Medicaid spending growth while avoiding reductions that could narrow access for children and rural residents.
