In the last budget that Gov. Jared Polis will usher through from conception to enactment, the term-limited Democrat hopes to wrestle down ever-rising Medicaid costs, he said Friday in unveiling his proposal.

It’s a plan that proposes clamping down on dental benefits, requiring prior authorization for more services and making payment changes affecting home health services. Elsewhere, Polis hopes to revive his often-proposed — and never accepted by the legislature — idea of privatizing Pinnacol Assurance, the state’s workers’ compensation insurance program, to generate hundreds of millions of dollars.

Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income Coloradans, has been gobbling an ever-bigger chunk of the overall state budget for years. It’s growing at a rate that’s double the over

See Full Page