Colorado Considers Competing Medicaid Budget Plans; Air Pollution Fight Over Comanche Coal Plant Extension; New health survey data on mental health, loneliness, healthcare access, and inequities

Headlines Thursday November 20, 2025

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    Colorado Considers Competing Medicaid Budget Plans; Air Pollution Fight Over Comanche Coal Plant Extension; New health survey data on mental health, loneliness, healthcare access, and inequities KGNU News

Colorado considers competing Medicaid budget plans

The state of Colorado is considering competing plans for how much the state covers Medicaid costs. This Tuesday, members of the Medicaid Provider Rate Review Advisory Committee presented a plan to lawmakers that is much more expensive than the Office of the Governor’s preferred plan. 

Colorado Newsline reports that the state typically doesn’t go with the advisory committee’s suggestion, and now lawmakers are questioning the role of that panel overall. This comes at a time when Medicaid, which is paid for jointly by federal and state governments, faces federal cuts, which people already expect to cause higher premiums. 

At the same time, Colorado is heading into another fiscal year with a $1.2 billion revenue shortfall. The plan endorsed by the governor, which is being proposed by the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, would cost around $8 million less than the committee’s plan, including more cuts. 

To protest those cuts, a group called the Colorado Association for Behavior Analysis rallied at the capitol steps on Tuesday. They say the cuts would hurt critical services for autism and other behavioral care. Denver 7 reports that state senator Barbara Kirkmeyer also expressed concern about the potential cuts, saying she’s concerned providers will leave the state.

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Air pollution fight over Comanche coal plant extension

The battle over the closure of the Comanche 2 coal plant is not yet over, as a last-minute agenda item causes concerns about air pollution. 

Colorado health and energy officials want to keep Xcel’s Comanche (co-MAN-chee) 2 coal power plant open past its scheduled closure at the end of this year. According to the Colorado Sun, they now also want to withdraw it from a federally required provision that would fight air pollution. This would put the state in charge of regulating the Pueblo plant’s environmental impact. 

Air Pollution Control Director told the Colorado Sun in an email statement that the state still plans to ensure a just, equitable transition from coal plants.

Environmental groups are concerned about what the withdrawal means for climate change, regional haze, and ground-level ozone pollution.

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New health survey data on mental health, loneliness, healthcare access, and inequities

The Colorado Health Institute published a survey yesterday that shows fewer Coloradans are struggling with mental health this year than last year. 

The Colorado Health Access Survey polled around 10,000 people. 20.5% of them reported their mental health was poor on at least eight days in the previous month, but that’s down from a high of 26.1% in 2023, reports the Denver Post. The reduction was statistically significant in adults between 30 and 64 years old. 

Also, fewer people reported going without needed mental health care last year. Other data from the report: the number of people reporting no health insurance has hovered between 4 and 6 percent for the past several years. Uninsured people were more likely to report going without physical and mental health care, and respondents identifying as Black, Hispanic, or American Indian, reported more problems with affordability, including health care, housing costs, and food, than Asian or White respondents. 

Trans Day of Remembrance events in Boulder

November 20th is recognized as Trans Day of Remembrance, an international memorial to transgendered people who’ve lost their lives to transphobia-fueled violence. The day started in 1999 as a memorial to two black trans women, Channelle Pickett (shuh-NELL) and Rita Hester, who died in 1995 and 1998 respectively. Both women passed in November, which led to the first recognition of Trans Day of Remembrance in Boston and San Francisco in 1999.

In the United States, 31 trans people were reported murdered in 2025 according to Transgender Europe.

Several local groups are hosting events in solidarity with Trans Day of Remembrance. Rocky Mountain Equality is hosting a memorial event at the Equality center located at 3340 Mitchel Lane in Boulder. RMEQ will also be hosting a similar memorial at the Center for Creativity at 200 Matthews St. in Fort Collins. Denver will be hosting their main memorial at The Pearl in the Five Points Neighborhood from 6 to 9 p.m. The Boulder event will last from 5:30 to 8:45, the Fort Collins event will be from 6pm to 8pm.

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