Quite a few Coloradans have received health care benefits they weren’t entitled to for nearly two years under Medicaid, so now state taxpayers are on the hook to repay those costs totaling nearly $43 million dollars.
State health officials blame the costly error on a whoopsy in their computer system, and say they hope to have the problem fixed in four months.
No hurry, we suppose.
The “system error” was reported by the Denver Post, which describes how some state officials are dealing with the huge debt.
Some state officials were described as optimistic that the federal government will forgive some or all of the debt, saying the Obama administration had historically been lenient when states made mistakes in implementing the Affordable Care Act.
This isn’t the first time Colorado has been overpaid for Medicaid-related services. An audit conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general’s office last year found Colorado erroneously received $38 million in federal bonuses for enrolling children in Medicaid who did not qualify.
Gov. Hickenloper asked state lawmakers to find at least $25 million to hand over when the feds come calling for repayment. Lawmakers say that when the check comes due, they’ll figure out how much, and how to repay the debt.
Colorado is not just the poster child for what went wrong in creating health care exchanges, we’re also going to be an example of why Medicaid needs reforming as well.
However, we don’t expect to see Democrat national activists picketing congressional offices or holding faux town halls to demand this problem be fixed.