from the desk of Pamela Bisceglia, Executive Director
November 1st the Governor will submit an executive budget request which will include departmental proposals, judicial and legislative allocations, and revenue forecasts to Colorado Joint Budget Committee (JBC). Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) is a state department, and they are currently anticipating a 1.6 billion dollar shortfall. November 3rd Colorado will elect a new Governor. When the new Governor takes office, they will inherit the current budget process. The new Governor can use supplemental requests to adjust priorities, but they cannot replace the JBC’s budget package after the initial submission.
Our one hope going into the 2026-2027 budget cycle is ballot Amendment 87. ADVOCACYDENVER joined more than 100 organizations including businesses, other advocacy agencies, elected officials and people from other sectors in support of Amendment 87. Amendment 87 calls for a decrease in taxes for persons earning under $500,000 and a staggered tax increase based on wealth. If passed the funding would go toward public health (Medicaid), k-12 public education and childcare. Governor Polis came out in opposition to Amendment 87, citing a belief that new businesses would be reluctant to move to Colorado. Jared Polis is one of the wealthiest politicians in the nation with an estimated net worth of approximately 400 million. ADVOCACYDENVER will let readers draw their own conclusions as to the Governor’s intent in his last weeks in office when opposing Amendment 87.
Same elected official, different topic; the executive director of HCPF serves at the pleasure of the Governor. November 2025 the Governor knew that the budget proposed by HCPF would not make it through the Joint Budget Committee. As layers of misspending and accountability issues were peeled back, he stood in support of HCPF Executive Director Kim Bimestefer. When elected officials circulated a petition to ask that she be dismissed, he allowed her to resign and thanked her for her “passion” and “for her unrelenting quest to really move the needle on health care costs and efficiency.” June 2026, to balance the state budget more than 360 million dollars were cut from the Medicaid programs and provider rates. Going into this budget year the budget deficit has grown to $1.6B.
In 2025 and 2026 HCPF spun a narrative that parent/family caregivers were taking advantage of the system. Significant cuts were and continue to be made to the very supports and services that keep our children and adults in their home/their community. To date we have learned that the overwhelming majority of fraud is by providers and misspending under the leadership of Kim Bimestefer. Misspending did not stop when Ms. Bimestefer left the agency, rather the agency stayed the course, turned a blind eye to provider fraud, mismanaged contracts and their own misspending. Each week HCPF holds stakeholder meetings to share the next series of cuts to in-home services. Our next Governor is in a position to order an independent audit of HCPF before cutting essential care for children and adults with disabilities. The disability community must insist that we have a seat at the table so that we can help prioritize the services needed to improve the quality of life and keep our most fragile, disabled children and adults safe, well and alive.