Colorado’s mounting budget shortfall is now estimated to be $1.2 billion, a figure largely driven by the rising costs of Medicaid.
Meanwhile, an audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) alleges that the state improperly spent $6 million in Medicaid funds to enrollees listed as deceased.
The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) disputes this finding, claiming the OIG used an “inadequate approach” to reach the financial estimates in its report, and states it will not return the $6 million to the federal government.
Medicaid now takes up a third of Colorado’s $16 billion state operating budget, and its costs have steadily risen since last spring. HCPF attributes this increase to rising costs for the state’s fast-growing senior population and long-term care coverage.
