The Research Desk #2 - 8 Percent

While state budgets track dollars spent with precision, they leave out the invisible safety net keeping thousands of Coloradans at home: working family caregivers.

By Mark Fukae - Director of Advocacy - Professionals Who Care

8 percent of Colorado's Medicaid members use long-term services and supports. They account for about 48 percent of Medicaid's General Fund spending.

In today's Research Desk, CASI founder Mark Fukae looks at what that number shows and what it leaves out:

• The state budget office projects a $443 million Medicaid overspend this year, driven by how much care people use, not by enrollment.

• The weekly caregiver cap (84 hours now, 70 in January, 56 in July 2027) is projected to save about $1.1 million in General Fund money in year one: about a quarter of one percent of that overspend.

• By CASI's calculation from the state's own figures, those savings would be offset if about 54 families moved someone into a nursing facility. That is a threshold, not a prediction. No one is measuring it.

  
  

CASI has asked the Medicaid Commission to recommend that HCPF track nursing facility admissions among members affected by the cap.

The piece also corrects an error in last week's correction ledger: the cap is phased, not immediate.

Have your say: HCPF roundtables are October 6 (1:00–2:30 p.m.) and October 7 (9:00–10:30 a.m.), with a written survey open through October 11.

📖 [https://therevenueneutralcaregiver.substack.com/p/the-research-desk-2?r=6a52ih&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true]

🗓 hcpf.colorado.gov/medicaid-sustainability-and-ltss

📋 Caring Costs Survey: casiadvocacy.org/research

#CASI #CaregiversAreInfrastructure #FamilyCaregivers #COleg #Medicaid