- Fear. That’s the word that stood out … [at] the WestLake Care Community, a skilled nursing facility in Lakewood.
- The state’s healthcare system is bracing to be rocked by a series of shocks caused by the nearly trillion-dollar federal cut to Medicaid in the tax and spending bill passed by Congress.
- Health coverage for more than 400,000 Coloradans will see funding cuts to what are called hospital provider fees. Nearly that number will have to follow strict new Medicaid rules, including work requirements, which is expected to cause many to lose that coverage.
- [A resident] worried Medicaid cuts would lead to staff cuts at her facility. “So it hits us in all kinds of ways,” she said.
- “They are so afraid,” said Chris Lynn, president of the Wheat Ridge-based Senior Resource Center, which aims to help older adults continue to live at home.
- “We’re seeing that their health is deteriorating because of it,” he said. “These cuts are detrimental on so many levels. But what it really comes down to is the individual human side of it. You watch people just deteriorate really quickly.”
- The entire system is complex and fragile, and problems in one part can affect the whole thing, he said.
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