More health care cost worries, less aid
Cuts to state assistance get closer to final approval
It’s not just Colorado. The whole country is worried about the rising cost of health care, according to a recent survey by the Gallup polling group.
Even as health care costs continue to increase, Coloradans are going to get less state assistance, since lawmakers are planning to slash health care aid to make up a $1.5 billion budget gap.
Colorado voters changed the state’s constitution in 1992 to limit how much the budget can grow each year. Because health care has gotten so much more expensive, it’s the main line item pushing the budget past those constitutional limits.
State health care assistance programs, known as Medicaid, are just one of many parts of the budget that lawmakers are considering cutting, though education funding is being left largely intact.
The bipartisan panel in charge of drafting the budget finished it last week, and it’s now awaiting the approval of the full legislature. But health care costs keep rising, and federal assistance is shrinking, meaning more cuts will likely be on the table in future years.
Need to Know
🚩 Health care and educational institutions can now request to temporarily take guns away from people who might be a danger to themselves or others under an expansion of the state’s “red flag” law signed yesterday. The new law also added behavioral health co-responders to the list of people who can request courts to issue firearm risk protection orders. (Denver Post, read the law)
🤳 Students and educators are debating proposals for in-school phone use policies ahead of a statewide deadline requiring all schools to create them by July. The requirement comes from a law passed last year aiming to limit distractions linked to phone use at school. Communities are seeking to restrict distracting phone use while allowing for safety and educational uses. (CPR)
🏘️ Affordable housing funding could get blocked for more than 90% of local governments because they aren’t meeting a requirement to increase affordable housing stock. Voters approved hundreds of millions of dollars in affordable housing funding in 2022, but they required cities to increase affordable housing by 3% per year in order to access the money. Most local governments haven’t met that threshold, so lawmakers are considering changing the requirement. (Colorado Sun)
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Something Good
🏀 The Nuggets won against the Portland Trailblazers last night, extending their winning streak to nine straight games and advancing from fourth to third place in the Western Conference. It’s been a kind of roller-coaster season with a lot of injuries, but the team is looking strong heading into the playoffs. They also face exciting matchups this week in their final three games of the regular season, which I’m stoked to watch.