Kaiser Foundation: Medicaid expansion could cost $858 million

Medicaid expansion in Colorado could cost as much as $858 million over the next 10 years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Expanding Medicaid as mandated by the Affordable Care Act would cost the federal government about $10.3 billion over the next 10 years, according to Kaiser.

The expansion would mean about 225,000 new Medicaid-insured people nationwide.

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For Colorado, this expansion would mean increasing the state’s budget by about 1.9 percent. Colorado is expected to spend $30.3 billion on Medicaid in the next 10 years.

Colorado’s spending estimate could be reduced by less need for compensated care payments to hospitals, the report said. The assumptions made by the foundation mean that Colorado’s share of the expansion could be reduced by $277 million. This would result in a $581 million expense over 10 years.

Colorado has not released its own estimate of the cost.

The central message of the report, according to Kaiser, is that states can make a big difference for the uninsured with relatively small budget changes.

The full report can be accessed here.