Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments in response to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) request for information related to Comprehensive Regulations to Uncover Suspicious Healthcare (CRUSH). The Colorado Health Foundation (CHF or the Foundation) is writing to express our strong support for the critical role that Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Marketplaces, and Medicare play in creating affordable access to healthcare for millions of people across the country. We oppose additional burdensome and costly regulations focused on fraud, waste, and abuse and instead urge CMS to invest in and strengthen these programs which are crucial to health nationwide, including in Colorado.
The Colorado Health Foundation is a statewide, nonprofit and nonpartisan philanthropic organization with a mission to improve the health and wellbeing of Coloradans. Through community engagement, research, grantmaking, and private sector investments, the Foundation aims to ensure that everyone in Colorado has what they need to be healthy. We strongly support Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program), Child Health Plan Plus (Colorado’s CHIP program), Connect for Health Colorado (Colorado’s ACA marketplace), and Medicare. Cumulatively, more than 2.6 million Coloradans receive their health coverage through these programs, as noted in the table below. They are essential to people’s health and well-being as well as the strength of Colorado’s economy.