Colorado Medicaid Spending Cut Likely To Affect Disabled, Mentally Ill, Nursing Home Residents

Colorado nursing home residents and people with severe disabilities or mental illnesses are likely to lose coverage for some medical services as a result of Medicaid cuts ordered last week by Gov. Bill Owens (R), the Denver Post reports. The Medicaid cuts, expected to total 3% from a $1.7 billion budget for 2002-2003, are part of approximately $26.8 million in state budget cuts that will be made between now and June 2003, according to Karen Reinertson, executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. Reinerston added that the state may limit eligibility for Medicaid disability benefits and reduce the services such beneficiaries can receive. Because Colorado "already offers some of the leanest medical benefits in the nation for low-income families," the Post reports, services that the state considers "optional," such as home care, speech and physical therapy for the disabled and preventive screenings for children, are the only areas left to cut, according to Robin Bolduk, executive director of Cerebral Palsy of Colorado. The cuts came as the governor's budget proposal predicted that state Medicaid rolls would increase 5.4% this year and 8.2% next year. The reduction in benefits and eligibility will prevent the state from having to cut medical provider reimbursements or make enrollment qualifications stricter, the Post reports. "We've tried to avoid current recipients' taking too much of a cut in their services," Reinerston said, adding, "I don't want to put (nursing home residents) in jeopardy either, but I don't know how much further we can take this" (Austin, Denver Post, 11/19).