Colorado taxpayers footed $7.3M bill for dead Medicaid enrollees, audit finds
By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette
Thousands of deceased Coloradans stayed on the state’s Medicaid rolls, as the state continued paying managed care organizations to cover them, a lapse federal investigators flagged as wasteful in a recent audit.
Colorado made an estimated $7.3 million in capitation payments between 2018 and 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG). The payments continued for some Coloradans months after their deaths because of outdated reporting and system delays, state officials said.
Simply stated, capitation payments are fixed monthly fees paid to managed care organizations for each Medicaid enrollee.
“We know that there is fraud, waste, and abuse in the system that we have...