Colorado will soon give a helping hand to the health care providers that serve the state’s lowest-income and uninsured residents under a law signed by Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday.
The new law, Senate Bill 290, will take a $60 million, interest-free loan from the state’s unclaimed property trust fund to create the provider stabilization fund. The new fund will help the state’s safety-net providers as they struggle to care for Coloradans following the drop-off in Medicaid coverage after the COVID-19 health emergency.
“Our health care safety net has been strained over the last five years, and it is at a breaking point today,” Sen. Kyle Mullica, a sponsor and Thornton Democrat, said in a statement. He called the new fund “a necessary and important step” to bolster the providers.
Colorado hospitals have also pledged to raise an additional $40 million for the new fund. Officials hope to leverage the combined money for federal matching grants, potentially bringing the new stabilization fund to $200 million.
Community health clinics have said the new fund will be vital to meet demand. One, the nonprofit Jefferson Center for Mental Health, has seen a 50% increase in patients without insurance over the past 18 months — leading to cuts in jobs, services for patients with mobility problems, and maintenance for its facilities and infrastructure.
Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican and bill sponsor, called the new fund “a critical lifeline that will allow us to build toward sustainable, long-term solutions.” She highlighted in the statement that the new fund will help a cross-section of providers. She has previously warned about the state’s 25 counties without maternal health care.
But the new law wasn’t without controversy.
Treasurer Dave Young, while not questioning the need for the new fund, warned against lawmakers digging too deep into the state’s unclaimed property trust fund. The unclaimed property trust fund is made up of money that was lost on the way to its rightful owners, such as old 401(k)s, insurance payouts, and more — money that belongs to individuals, not the state.
Over the last two decades, the legislature has already tapped about $660 million out of about $2 billion in liabilities. To help calm those concerns, lawmakers changed SB 290 to rely primarily on interest collected on the unclaimed property trust fund and classified the money as a loan that must be repaid by 2045 — if future lawmakers don’t change the terms.
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