AURORA, Colo. — Just like every mom, Karmen Peak wants the best for her kids.
That's not different, but something else is.
Both her two-year-old daughter and four-year-old son were diagnosed with autism within a year of each other. She signed them up for at a behavioral therapy clinic near her home in Greeley— and it helped.
"Something as simple as calling his name and not responding— it was really hard for my husband and I, so for that to be one of the first steps that we noticed, it was amazing for sure," she said.
The progress continued until her clinic— like more than a dozen across Colorado— shut down and blamed the state.
"Everything is going up but the rates," said J.J. Tomash, whose autism clinic in Aurora remains open, but faces challenges with the state's Medicaid reimbursement rates.
"It’s getting harder and harder," he said. "The rates haven’t increased significantly, but we’re paying employees probably 20-25% more."
A state advisory committee recommended Colorado increase the reimbursement rates by $34 million, but the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) only asked lawmakers for $13 million at a hearing this week.
The director of HCPF, Kim Bimestefer, described the decision as "agonizing" and said it was not an easy call. But as more and more kids need autism treatment, she said the state still has to keep the budget balanced.
"The legislature and the joint budget committee have the obligation of making ends meet. Revenues have to match expenses, expenses have to match revenue," she said.
She said the smaller rate increase HCPF proposed will keep Colorado in the ballpark of how much most other states pay for the type of care. Lawmakers will have the final say of how much to appropriate.
"Obviously something needs to be fixed," Peak said.
For families like hers, the fight between clinics that want more money and the state's budget crunch has meant behavior issues at home are getting worse. Her kids have been on a waitlist at another clinic since the summer— she expects they'll be able to return to treatment in early January.
"It's a bummer to start with a clean slate and have him grow so much and then kind of have to backtrack and start over again," she said.
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