Medicaid is a hot topic featured on the nightly news, in local newspapers, and at county commissioner meetings. So why another Medicaid article? Because, it is important to focus on this issue to insure everyone understands what is at stake if Medicaid is cut.
Access to health care is critical to maintaining our health through prevention and disease management, allowing us to enjoy full and productive lives. We’ve come a long way from the 1800s when 46% of babies born died before age 5 and the average life span was 40 to 43 years.
With advances in health care, costs of health care have risen, resulting in limited access for many hardworking Americans. Annually, the cost of health care and health insurance outpaces the rate of inflation; it’s estimated that over 66% of those declaring bankruptcy are the result of medical debt.
According to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing, in 2024, 37.29% of Montezuma County’s population was enrolled in Health First Colorado (Medicaid) – almost 10,000 of our family members and neighbors – and that number is higher today.
Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+), a branch of Medicaid, covers 539 Montezuma County children; add 3,459 youngsters under the age of 18 enrolled in Health First Colorado, and 73% of the children in our community receive some kind of Medicaid assistance. Without the health care Medicaid enables, many of these children will never realize their potential for full, productive lives.
Rural hospitals, including Southwest Memorial, receive significant revenues from Medicaid and are depend on these revenues to maintain level of services. Southwest Memorial estimates that Medicaid reimbursements at current funding levels will comprise almost 25% of its 2025 revenue. Should reimbursements be cut by even 1% to 2%, it will definitely impact our hospital and its ability to maintain and expand services that not only Medicaid patients receive but every other Southwest health care patient.
It is also important to note that hospitals are required to provide some level of care to anyone walking in the door, regardless of ability to pay. If Medicaid eligibility requirements are increased resulting in people currently eligible being bumped off with no access to health insurance, the hospital will provide services for which they will receive no reimbursement, putting them further in the hole.
Southwest Memorial is the third-largest employer in the county. If you include all other county employers providing health care services, i.e., Axis Health, durable medical equipment providers, etc., businesses that receive at least some Medicaid funding could very well account for the largest sector of employees in this county.
If Medicaid is cut, services are cut and employees providing those services may find themselves unemployed. Without a job, people are unable to eat out, engage in discretionary spending and contribute to the economy at the same level as when employed. This hurts not only them and their families, but also the community at large.
Administrative costs for Medicaid are 4% vs. 12% to 18% for private health insurance, and contrary to popular belief, fraud is minimal. “Improvements” to Medicaid have been proposed, but caution should prevail as changes which may look good at first glance must be vetted to ensure they will actually reduce “waste and fraud.”
Medicaid is a safety net for those who could not otherwise afford health care. It is a measure of who we are as a nation that we care for those who may be unable to care for themselves.
Cutting Medicaid isn’t something that will happen to somebody else far away, it will hurt important people in our own lives, and will have a negative impact on both the health care system and our larger economy. It’s encouraging to see that 12 Republican representatives have signed a letter opposing Medicaid cuts, including Rep. Jeff Hurd. Hopefully, they will be joined by others.
Karen Sheek is the chair of the Montezuma County League of Women Voters and serves as director of Local League Support for the League of Women Voters of Colorado’s Board of Directors. She served two terms on Cortez City Council and two-terms as mayor, the second woman to serve in that role. She has lived in Cortez since 1980 and Montezuma County since 1975. Contact the local league at lwvmzc@gmail.com and on Facebook at https://bit.ly/3YgpBZt.
