Each year the cycle continues, state lawmakers will have fewer ways to address the gap without cutting state programs and services. Skyrocketing Medicaid costs are primarily to blame.
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Colorado lawmakers are stuck in a cycle of annual budget shortfalls of roughly $1 billion, predominantly caused by the skyrocketing cost of Medicaid.
That was the warning last week from the top nonpartisan staffer for the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, which is tasked with drafting the state budget. JBC Staff Director Craig Harper called the trend “alarming.”
