To Our Valued Stakeholders,
On Monday, our Board of Directors took a support position for Senate Bill 24-093, Continuity of Health-Care Coverage Change. This bill will ensure that Coloradans who are no longer eligible for Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) or the Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) program can continue treatment for their serious medical conditions for 90 days without fear of out-of-network balance billing. We know that coverage transitions can be a stressful period for people losing Medicaid regardless of health condition, but Coloradans with serious medical conditions and those getting ongoing treatments are in an especially vulnerable situation. I hope this bill can also help provide greater peace of mind for people as they continue critical treatments.
Since the spring of 2023, we’ve seen thousands more Coloradans coming to our Marketplace after losing their Medicaid coverage. You may have heard this described as the “Medicaid unwind,” or the end of COVID-19 pandemic protections that kept Medicaid enrollees continuously enrolled even if they became ineligible. Our enrollment experts continue to be on the front lines of helping these folks, and they’ve relayed the concerns and challenges from customers about continuity of critical care. We applaud the bill sponsors, Senator Michaelson-Jenet and Representative Amabile, and the many stakeholders who worked tirelessly to craft this important legislation.
Read our full statement in support of SB24-093.
Celebrating a Technological Milestone
I’m pleased to share that, this month, Connect for Health Colorado finalized our own fully functional connection with the Federal Data Services Hub (FDSH). This is a milestone in our work to own our technology, and a new level of organizational maturity. FDSH connections are the country’s gateways to accessing federal data. We use an FDSH connection to verify information about our customers, like their identity, household income, and more. This achievement will reduce security risks and make our systems more sustainable, more resilient, and more responsive to compliance requests. This outcome has been years in the making, and I’m very proud of our staff who made it possible.
Take care,
Kevin Patterson, MURP, MPA
Chief Executive Officer
Connect for Health Colorado
