CENTRAL SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Parent caregivers in Colorado say they are alarmed by discussions of potential cuts or reductions to a Medicaid program called Community First Choice, or CFC — a program they say is essential to keeping their families stable and their children healthy.
The concerns surfaced after a Medicaid Commission meeting earlier this month, where parents said they heard two senators on the Joint Budget Committee raise the possibility of changes to the program.
Jo Remund, a parent caregiver, said she attended the entire nine-hour meeting.
Watch Jo Remund's Story in the Video Player Below
"I was absolutely just floored. I was floored. They said the quiet thing out loud. That families like mine don't matter," Remund said.
CFC allows the state to provide certain home and community-based services to eligible Medicaid members, including personal care services and homemaker services. For families like Remund's, those services are woven into the fabric of daily life.
"I mean it sounds like that's a normal thing for parents to do, but when it comes to my 8-year-old, it's just so much more and it is a consistent reminder, it is a consistent hands-on for 2 hours before we go to school," Remund said.
She said she has to help her son tie his shoes, button his shirts, brush his teeth, and many other tasks.
Krystal Edwards said the program has been critical to the development of her 10-year-old son, Jude, who receives speech therapy and occupational therapy at home twice a week.
"When we look at our life and him as an individual in our family. We weigh very heavy on the fact that he does have these services. It's the amount of therapy and the growth that we are seeing in him as an individual? Just watching him blossom is incredible," Edwards said.
The family also relies on the CFC program to keep Jude integrated into the community.
"We are always out in the community with him we are out doing concerts, we went to the CU Boulder game. It's constant because you want them to feel normal, or as normal as they can. You don't want them to see that disability," Edwards said.
But community connector hours have already been reduced. Edwards said her family went from receiving 10 to 12 hours to just 5.
And Remund said she also faced cuts to her hours for protective oversight. Her daughter has severe mental health issues and needs attention to ensure her safety.
"I used to have 7 hours a day of protective oversight for my 15-year-old, which was so needed because it wasn't just the morning, it was also after school. It was also during school. It was also overnight. The amount of times where I had to lay next to her door to make sure that she was not getting up in the middle of the night to go and find something to harm herself is insane," Remund said, "When we had our reevaluation, they said, listen, I'm so sorry, but you are only going to get 1 hour a day of protective oversight. One hour a day? Are you kidding me?"
For Jinny Arrington, who lives on the Western Slope — four hours from the nearest children's hospital — the services are a lifeline.
"I don't know how we would stay out of the hospital in all honesty. I would see us having to need higher level of care, and it's really difficult because here on the western slope, we're so far," Arrington said.
At the Medicaid Commission meeting, the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, known as HCPF, shared a document about the growth of the CFC program. The document states that when CFC was implemented in 2025, the department projected $45 million in general fund savings, but that "actual experience has differed from those assumptions. As a result, the addition federal funding available through CFC has not been sufficient to offset the increased spending."
As we work to address the growth in expenditures and bring spending in line with the budget the legislature has appropriated to HCPF, we will be guided by the core commitment to protect the health and safety of members. The Department is focusing its work in four areas:
- Driving administrative efficiencies
- Aligning benefits and services to maximize impact and value
- Ensuring program integrity and fiscal accountability
- Maximizing federal and non-general fund resources
The department said no cuts have been finalized for the upcoming fiscal year. Governor Polis' 2027/2028 proposed budget for the state will be released November 1, 2026.
But parent caregivers say the uncertainty alone is frightening. Remund said if the program were eliminated entirely, the consequences for her family would be severe.
"I will be making $0. That literally will leave me and my two children homeless because I will not have money. I will not have money because I cannot go and get a normal 9 to 5 like anybody else," Remund said.
She said she is always on call if something were to happen to either her daughter or son while they are at school.
"How in the world am I going to manage that? Because the need is still there. It doesn't go away," Remund said.
Edwards said the stakes extend beyond her own family.
"You've got people like me who are like, oh no, I've got to go back to work in order to support the family. Where does that leave Jude? Where does that leave him? Where does that leave all these individuals who are in these needs?" Edwards said.
Edwards said she often gets calls to pick up her son, Jude, early from school. He has sleep apnea, and she said he is almost always in the red or yellow zone.
Arrington said she hopes decision-makers will see the human cost of any reductions.
"I think there's a lot of work that needs done. I personally don't even know where to start. I just hope that they can see us as people, rather than a budget item," Arrington said.
