Ten Colorado legislators are studying how to keep the state's Medicaid program sustainable while protecting care for the people who depend on it. They must deliver recommendations to the legislature by December 11, 2026.

The Commission wants to hear from the people who interact with this program every day: people covered by Medicaid; families and caregivers; the people who provide care; counties; and Coloradans who care how the state spends its money.

You don't have to be an expert.
  • This survey takes about 15 minutes. Skip anything you like.
  • You do not have to give your name, your employer's name, or your provider's name. Several Commission members specifically asked for a channel where people can speak without fear of retaliation.
  • What you write will be summarized for Commission members and may become part of the public record. So: tell us the rule, the practice, or the pattern. Don’t name a person, and please don't include private health details.
  • The Commission can't fix an individual coverage problem. If you have one, contact April.bernard@coleg.gov. Please still tell us about it here – the pattern is what we're looking for.
  • If anything here brings up something difficult, call/text/chat 988, which is available 24/7.
Section 1 – Who you're speaking for
This is optional. Nothing here identifies you.

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1. Which describes you? Select all that apply.

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2. Are you answering for yourself, or for an organization?

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3. Where in Colorado? Select all that apply.

Section 2 - Understanding the Opportunities

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4. What policy, benefit, or practice within Medicaid is helping you the most? In other words, what experience with Medicaid has enhanced your well-being? Be as specific as you can. (Required.)

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5. What rule or regulation is hurting you the most? Be as specific as you can – the actual rule, requirement, cap, limit, or paperwork requirement, and what it does to you in practice. (Required.)

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6. Is there a rule or requirement that is pushing you – or someone you care for – toward a different option than you'd otherwise choose? For example: a rule whose effect is to push a family toward placing a child or an adult in an institution rather than caring for them at home. Or a requirement that makes it impossible for a provider to keep offering a service. (Required.)

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7. What could the state Medicaid agency do more efficiently? Where is time, effort, or money being wasted – and what would you change? Specific processes are more useful than general impressions.

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8. Is Colorado missing out on federal money? Some Commission members believe the state fails to claim federal funding it's entitled to, or classifies spending in ways that forfeit a federal match. If you know of a case, tell us.

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9. If the Commission addressed only one thing within Colorado’s Medicaid system, what should it be? (Required.)

Section 3 – Your top issues
What should the Commission focus on?

These lists come from the areas the Commission itself identified as in scope. Some of these are about fixing what's broken; others are about protecting or building on what already works – both belong here. If your top priority isn't listed, tell us in the following question.

For the next questions: choose up to five and put them in order – most important first.

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10. Protect and build on:
Drag to rank your top five: 1 = most important.

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11. Is there something missing from the list above that you would include in your top 5?

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12. Fix and improve:
Drag (or number) to rank your top five: 1 = most important.

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13. Is there something missing from the list above that you would include in your top 5?

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14. What is working that the Commission should protect or build on? Tell us what works.

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15. When Medicaid works well for you, what does it make possible?
For example: staying in your own home, keeping a job, a child staying in school, staying out of the hospital, a parent being able to work. We're trying to understand not just what the program costs, but what it produces – the value it creates for real people.

Section 4A – Your experience: If you're covered by Medicaid, or you care for someone who is
Answer whichever sections apply. You can answer more than one.

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16. Tell us about your experience with Medicaid. What's the story the Commission needs to hear?

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17. In the past year, how hard has it been to:

  Very easy to get help/Not a problem at all Somewhat easy Somewhat hard Very hard/Wasn't able to get help N/A (I didn't try to get this type of help)
Get through enrollment or renewal paperwork
Reach a person who could answer your question
Understand what's covered
Get a specific type of appointment, like gynecology, dialysis, or an MRI
Get an appointment before things got worse
Get approved for care you were told you qualify for
Get prescriptions filled
Get preventive care like a vaccine or annual check-up
Get help at home – personal care, home health, day programs
Find a doctor or specialist who takes Medicaid
Get urgent or hospital-level care
Get mental health or substance use care
Get dental care
Get to appointments – distance, transportation, or a driver willing to come

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18. Have you been on a waiting list?

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19. Has a service, benefit, number of approved hours, or payment rate you depend on been cut or capped?

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20. What effect has this had on you? Select all that apply.

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21. When you've dealt with the state, a health plan, a county, or a case manager, have you gotten straight answers and been treated with respect?

Never Sometimes Almost Always
Clear
i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

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22. If you're a paid family caregiver: how well does Medicaid's process for approving, recording, and paying for the care you provide work – from authorization to payment?

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23. If you or the person you care for relies on a waiver or long-term-support program: do the different programs and rules fit together, or do they work against each other?

For example: being on one waiver making you ineligible for something else you need; having to choose between services that should go together; rules from different programs that contradict each other; or being bounced between the state, a county, and a case management agency.

Section 4B – Your experience: If you provide care – clinician, direct-care worker, or provider organization

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24. Can you take the Medicaid patients who need you?

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25. What specifically gets in the way? Select all that apply.

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26. If rates are part of the problem – is it the rate itself, or how the rate is set?
Why we’re asking: a recurring theme is that across-the-board rate changes drive providers out and push patients to the emergency room, and that rural and safety-net providers need something different from higher-margin systems. Telling them exactly how your costs work is what lets them design a rate that keeps you in the program.

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27. Have you closed, reduced, or stopped offering a service line because of Medicaid payment or rules?

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28. Roughly how much of your organization's time and money goes to administration rather than care – and what specifically consumes it?

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29. If you're a direct-care worker: can you make a living doing this? What would have to change?

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30. What have you seen work – here in Colorado or in another state?

Commission members specifically want practices from states that are recognized for doing this well, not just any state.

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31. What have you seen fail?

For example, are patients you interact with falling through the cracks or not being served well by Medicaid? Do you see resources being used inefficiently?

Section 4C– Your experience: If you work for a county, an advocacy organization, a health plan, or another organization

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32. What do you see from where you sit that the Commission won't see from the Capitol?

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33. What would you change about how the Medicaid program is administered, coordinated, or overseen?

Section 5 – Money, integrity, and what's coming

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34. Have you seen or experienced something in Medicaid you would call fraud, waste, or abuse?

Describe the practice or the pattern. Please do not name individuals or include private health information. This survey is not an investigative channel, but what you tell us shows the Commission where to look.

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35. Congress recently passed a new federal law that cuts Medicaid funding and adds new rules for people who have coverage. Starting in 2026 and 2027, many adults will have to show they're working, going to school, or volunteering to keep their Medicaid, and everyone will have to renew their coverage more often. Some immigrants who have coverage today will lose it, and over time Colorado will have less federal money to run the program – which is part of why this Commission is looking at how to keep Medicaid sustainable.


Do you expect this to affect you, your family, or the people you serve?

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36. If the state has to find savings within the Medicaid program, where should it look before it reduces anyone's benefits or care?

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37. What must the Commission protect within Medicaid, no matter what?

Section 7 – Before you go

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38. May we share your words – not your name – with Commission members?

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39. Is there anything else you want to share or think Commission members should know?

Thank you!

Ten legislators have to make real decisions by December 11. What you wrote is going in front of them to inform their decision-making. Visit the Commission’s webpage (https://leg.colorado.gov/committees/2026A/interim/CommissiononMedicaid) to stay apprised of the meeting schedule and topics. You are able to attend the meetings in person, listen to the audio online, and also watch the recording afterwards.

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