In one of the most convoluted pieces of journalism I’ve ever seen, the Colorado Sun reports that hundreds of people are being kicked off addiction treatment programs in Colorado without any legislation or reason.

The reason cited in the story is spiraling Medicare costs due to funding addiction treatment since 2021, when the legislature expanded “self-care and peer-help services” to reduce wait times for more expensive clinical addiction treatment.

The successful program treated as many as 35,000 patients per month with sober living homes and peer-guided recovery programs. The headline number in the Colorado Sun is a 286% increase in Medicaid spending. The number is meaningless without starting amounts and ending amounts.

Did spending go from $1,000 to $300,000? If you start a new program, it’s going to result in a very high percentage increase in annual spending. The Colorado Sun says total state Medicaid spending is projected to be $1 billion over budget next year. State Medicaid spending was only $213 million over budget in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026.

The Colorado Sun says that charges to Medicaid for the billing code associated with peer services jumped from $8.4 million in 2021 to $51.8 million in 2025. That’s not an unreasonable amount to pay for addiction treatment for 35,000 monthly patients. That comes to about $1,500 per patient, per year. What would it cost for those patients to be serviced in a healthcare facility or even in jail?

An earlier article in the Colorado Sun identified several reasons for the Medicaid spending increases: “Costs are up 92% [since 2023], driven by rising use of long-term care services for the elderly and behavioral healthcare.” Those are two different categories; what percentage increase was due to long-term care?

There’s no math in the Colorado Sun‘s article to put the blame for these costs on the addiction recovery programs now being summarily cut off from legislature-approved funding. The article says an overage of $293 million in Medicaid spending is shared between the state and the federal government without saying what percentage is the state’s obligation. The Colorado legislature knew costs would increase and that the federal government would absorb most of the increase when they passed the enabling legislation in 2021.

The letters that went out last week informing addiction care providers of the termination of their contracts came from “regional agencies that contract for peer services.” It appears even Gretchen Hammer, executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, who oversees the contracts with the regional agencies, is not taking responsibility for issuing the letters of termination.

Hammer told the Colorado Sun, “There may not be appropriate clinical oversight [of peer and support services].” This indicates two things. First, they don’t know if there are any significant clinical oversight problems, and secondly, the answer should be to add oversight, not dismantle a successful program.

The Colorado Sun acts as if the “overspending” will necessitate cuts to programs when the option of increasing taxes to fund them is an alternative. The citizens of Colorado should be happy to have tens of thousands of people in recovery rather than on the streets, and to know that these recovery programs are vastly less expensive than addiction treatment in a healthcare facility or jail.

It appears that the Colorado legislature is using a successful addiction treatment program as the scapegoat for budget problems without evidence of significant wrongdoing or fraud. They should be blaming that state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), which limits the legislature’s ability to pay for obviously valuable services.

Written by Steve O’Keefe. First published October 7, 2026.

Sources:

“Colorado targets cuts to addiction recovery coaches as Medicaid spending jumps 286%,” Colorado Sun, September 28, 2026.

“Colorado state budget deficit grows to $1.6B as Medicaid costs soar,” Colorado Sun, September 28, 2026.

Image of the Colorado State flag courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.