Get email alerts on the HR1 Overview topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Larimer officials outline local preparations for federal HR 1 changes
Summary
Larimer County human services leaders briefed commissioners on federal HR 1 changes, a local 12'18 month strategic plan developed with APHSA, and the county's preparations to help roughly 22,000 Medicaid recipients who will face twice-yearly recertification.
Larimer County Human Services Director Heather O'Hare told the Board of Social Services that most HR 1 implementation changes remain ahead of the county but require immediate preparation. She said staff are working with the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) on a 12'18 month strategic plan to support people who rely on SNAP and Medicaid as federal and state rules change.
O'Hare outlined a timeline and said some SNAP changes already began last year but that the bulk of administrative cost-share and Medicaid procedural changes will arrive in late 2026 and 2028'29. She said one near-term outcome will be a change to Medicaid recertification: "about 22,000 of the 62,000 in the Larimer County community that received Medicaid that'll be impacted" by a move to twice-yearly recertification for roughly one-third of recipients.
County leaders described two goals for the strategic plan: ensure eligible but not-enrolled residents still can access benefits, and prevent current eligible recipients from falling off the rolls when new procedures arrive. O'Hare said the county has completed listening sessions with residents, line staff and partners, held two convenings (June and July) with more than 50 partners, and plans a final phase-1 report in the following weeks.
O'Hare said the county will separate workstreams for Medicaid and SNAP where needed but use a common governance structure to coordinate communications, training and volunteer tracking. Commissioner questions focused on whether other counties have used the same APHSA-based model; Shannon Reap said county teams in New Jersey, Virginia and North Carolina are using similar approaches and that APHSA will document lessons learned.
Looking ahead, commissioners asked about outreach and potential impacts on workforce and community partners. O'Hare said the county is developing communications and training resources to share data points and explain procedural changes to residents and partners, and that federal budget proposals could create additional fiscal changes to monitor.
AI generated
The text on this page is AI generated. Summaries, highlights, analysis, and video transcripts are all produced from the original source material.
AI can make mistakes, so if you spot one, and we will fix it for everyone.
Note: the source content is unaltered by us. Any content source we link to, be it a video, an audio recording, or a document, is presented exactly as its publisher released it. That publisher is usually a government body, sometimes an individual official or another organisation.
