Dive Brief:
- More Colorado residents are covered by health insurance than ever before, according to a survey by the Colorado Health Institute, which finds the rate of uninsured residents has been slashed in half after dropping from 14.3% in 2013 to 6.7% in 2015.
- The change is attributed to the state's Medicaid expansion, making the state the fourth fastest-growing Medicaid program in the U.S. after Kentucky, Oregon and Nevada, according to a CMS analysis this year.
- The increase in Colorado Medicaid recipients has skyrocketed by 450,000 since 2013, surpassing Gov. John Hickenlooper’s (D) initital projection it would grow by about 160,000 over 10 years.
Dive Insight:
While state officials point toward their success in increasing health coverage, critics note the picture is not entirely rosy.
One concern is the cost the state will incur by enrolling so many additional Medicaid recipients, as federal assistance is slowly reduced to 90% by 2020. The governor's office is standing by a promise that over the course of 10 years, Medicaid savings will be enough to cover the expense of the additional patients.
Colorado is not alone in this predicament. Most Medicaid expansion states have found they underestimated enrollment, Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, told Kaiser Health News.