Glenwood Springs resident Judy Haynes returned to talk to the Garfield County Commissioners (BOCC) Monday about Medicaid and the threat to local hospitals. Haynes was one of several members of Mountain Action Indivisible, a local citizens group, who approached the BOCC in late May about supporting the retention of Medicaid in light of the threat from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported that a little over 22% of Garfield County residents are enrolled in Health First Colorado, the state’s Medicaid program.
Haynes told the BOCC during Monday’s public comment period that her granddaughter is starting kindergarten this year. “She is a healthy, happy Pediatric Partners patient,” said Haynes, adding that Medicaid provides a great deal of Valley View Hospital’s Pediatric Partners’ income. “Her mom works at the hospital and is very concerned about what is going to happen to Valley View Hospital,” she said.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law on July 4, and includes significant changes to Medicaid and health insurance marketplaces. The American Hospital Association reports that the bill includes almost a trillion dollars of Medicaid cuts. The bill also requires 80 hours of volunteer, useful public service, part-time study or paid work per month for recipients. The bill bans federal funding for gender transition procedures and certain family planning providers.
But Haynes was in front of the BOCC to talk about rural hospitals as well as the threat of increased health insurance premiums.
“Because of the loss of Medicaid, I expect that our premiums are going to go up for our own insurance because the pool of insured people is going to get very small,” she explained. “That means all of us will be paying more.”
She asked commissioners about what will happen when Medicaid dollars stop coming into the community or if the Craig hospital closes. She referred to a list of hospitals reported in the Denver Post that could be threatened by Medicaid losses, including Delta Health and Grand River Health in Rifle.
Commissioner Perry Will disputed the claim about Grand River Health. “I talked to a couple people that are in administration from the Rifle hospital and they said they’re not in any danger of shutting down,” he said.
Commissioner Mike Samson said he applauds getting fraud out of Medicare and Medicaid. “There is so much fraud there,” he opined. “I wish that would take care of it so the people who are deservingly needing the help can get the help.”
Will added that it’s a matter of wait-and-see in terms of the impacts. But Haynes asked the BOCC about what resources the county might have to help. Commission Chair Tom Jankovsky said her five minutes were up before adding that she is speculating about the impacts. He added that it’s important to cover the county residents first. “One thing we’ve done is to try to keep the costs down in our healthcare centers,” he said.
In other news, Zane Kessler of the Colorado River Water Conservation District brought a letter addressed to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum about protecting the historic Shoshone water right on the Colorado River. Will said that it’s important for the Western Slope.
“It’s basically getting the federal money,” he explained. “We have about $57 million and we need about $40 million from them to preserve this.” He added, “The Front Range, they want our West Slope water for sure and we need to protect that for [agriculture] and our energy community and everything here.” Recreation is important, he added. “Without Shoshone, you won’t be floating the river,” he said. “It’s literally a buy-and-dry [on] the West Slope if we don’t get hold of this Shoshone water right.”
Kessler said the letter sends a united message from counties near and far from the mainstem of the Colorado River. He added that U.S. senators from Colorado and Representative Joe Neguse support the water right purchase, which will cost $99 million.
The Aspen Times reports that, as of this month, more than $57 million has been raised from the state legislature, the River District’s Community Funding Partnership Program and from West Slope water entities and local governments. The purchase would ensure the uninterrupted flow of water in the Colorado River. Xcel Energy owns the Shoshone water rights, which are connected to the Shoshone Hydroelectric Power Plant east of Glenwood Springs in Glenwood Canyon.
Last year, Garfield County committed $3 million towards the effort. On Monday, the BOCC unanimously signed the River District’s letter.