More than 300,000 Coloradans could soon lose Medicaid coverage

BY JOHN INGOLD THE COLORADO SUN

Roughly one out of every 18 Coloradans could nd themselves looking for new health care coverage over the coming year, after the end of a federal pandemic-era rule means that more than 300,000 people are likely set to lose Medicaid bene ts.

e insurance turmoil — the result of the end of the o cial federal public health emergency for COVID-19 — represents the largest transition in health coverage since the A ordable Care Act went into place 10 years ago.

“ e end of the public health emergency is a pivotal moment for Coloradans,” Adam Fox, the deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, said at a news conference earlier this year.

Medicaid is the joint state and federal government health insurance program for people with low income. In Colorado, the program is known as Health First Colorado.

To qualify, households must make 138% of the federal poverty level or below — about $20,000 a year for a single person or $40,000 for a fam- ily of four. Children and pregnant people in families who make slightly more could qualify for a related program called the Child Health Plan Plus, or CHP+.

People on Medicaid typically must go through eligibility re-evaluations to make sure they still qualify. But the federal government paused those redeterminations during the height of the COVID pandemic. at grew Colorado’s Medicaid rolls to roughly 1.7 million people, or more than one out of every four people in the state.

Now that the public health emergency is coming to an end, Medicaid o cials in Colorado will again start