Leaders with Colorado’s health insurance exchange are trying to sort out a key piece of its financial future -- how much the state’s Medicaid program should pay for enrollees the exchange signed up.
Connect for Health Colorado created a shared signup system with the state’s Medicaid program. The system helped enroll tens of thousands of Coloradans.
Now the two sides are in discussions to figure out how much Medicaid should reimburse the exchange for the resources and staff those signups required. When a $54 million budget was approved for next year, the exchange's finance committee included a $2.5 million payment from Medicaid.
Board vice-chair Arnold Salazar wondered why the figure isn’t higher.
But exchange officials say it's best to underestimate the Medicaid payment in the budget while negotiations continue. The budget also includes fee increases on health insurance customers and premiums to help make the exchange self-sufficient.
The full exchange board is set to vote on the budget next Monday.
