Families, care providers navigate cuts to Colorado's Community Connector program
GREELEY, Colo. — Elli Jane scrambled to maintain care for her client, a nonverbal teenager who uses a wheelchair, after the state cut funding for Community Connector, a Medicaid-funded program meant to help people with disabilities develop skills and integrate into their community.
For Jane, a respite care provider, the reductions didn’t just mean a smaller paycheck. It disrupted her routine with 15-year-old Taym Batikha.
“His mom was biting the inside of her cheeks. I could see the anxiety and I'd never really seen her anxious before,” Jane, 21, said. “They don't understand why the cuts were being made to one of the most vulnerable populations in the state.”
Colorado cut Community Connector’s hours by half — from 520 to 260 hours per person annually — as part of a Medicaid spending cut approved by the state’s Joint Budget Committee in an effort to address a $1.5 billion shortfall.
Jane’s pay for providing the service decreased from $25 to $20 per hour, she said. Her work as a respite care provider, where she cares for Batikha 14 hours a week, six of which are specifically designated as Community Connector time, is a second job. Her primary job is as a paraprofessional — a special education assistant — for a school district in Greeley.
The funding cut comes amid broader efforts to reduce Medicaid costs in the fiscal year 2026–27 budget. On April 29, the state Senate passed the state budget for that period, which reduces Medicaid spending to help close the budget deficit.
Democratic state lawmakers blamed the billion-dollar budget crisis primarily on President Donald Trump’s H.R.1, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
“Trump’s cuts are crushing Colorado’s finances and families,” said vice chair of the JBC, Sen. Jeff Bridges (D).
President Trump signed the bill in 2025, which is estimated to cut roughly $800 billion in federal Medicaid spending over 10 years. A Congressional Budget Office analysis found more than 8 million Americans will lose their health insurance coverage as a result of the changes. House Speaker Mike Johnson defended the bill, saying it isn’t cutting Medicaid, but instead eliminating “fraud, waste and abuse.”
In Batikha’s case, his weekly Community Connector time was reduced from six hours a week to five, bringing his total care to the new annual cap. He has used the service for more than two years.
“Typically, between me and my husband, there are no breaks. We have to constantly ask each other to change him and feed him and shower him. I always worry about the future if Elli has to leave and not get help anymore,” said Dina Katan, Batikha’s mother. “The free time is good for my mental health. For me, when Elli comes here and helps, I have time to do things that usually I am not able to do.”
Other parents are concerned that the reduction in hours will make it harder to find care providers. Becky Houle of Greeley is the mother of Hadley, a 13-year-old diagnosed with Angelman syndrome, a rare neurogenetic disorder that causes significant developmental delays and little to no speech.
Hadley used to qualify for 10 Community Connector hours a week and is now down to five, Houle said. With those hours, she previously played unified basketball, went to the park and interacted with others and participated in running errands with her caretaker.
“I worry that the person that provides some of that caregiving role for her won’t be able to commit with such few hours,” Houle said. “I like Hadley to have interactions without us being there, so she can feel like a teenager.”
Tom Dermody, chief budget and policy analyst for Colorado’s JBC, said spending on Community Connector services has risen substantially over the past six fiscal years.
Dermody said that as the program, which started in 2014, has become more popular, costs have ballooned. He said participation in the Community Connector service has increased by 510% since fiscal year 2018-2019, and that annual spending has risen from about $5 million in fiscal year 2018–2019 to more than $66 million in fiscal year 2025–2026.
To cut costs, the JBC not only capped annual hours for the service, but also revised the rules to narrow what qualifies as Community Connector hours. Jane said this makes it harder to consistently reach the five-hour weekly allotment.
“When these changes were made, I did our usual Community Connect on Sunday. After I worked my shift, I noticed that I couldn't clock in or out because my shift was removed from the app,” Jane said.
After sending an email to her employer, her agency told her that what she did — taking her Batikha to a gas station and showing him how to ask an associate how to find a product — does not qualify under the new Community Connector rules.
Under the updated rules, Community Connector hours must be tied to activities in the community that align with a person’s care plan and build skills or participation, such as volunteering, attending enrichment classes or going to the library alongside peers without disabilities.
The state has excluded simple supervision, passive outings and activities typically considered a parent’s responsibility from qualifying for Community Connector hours. Providers must now clearly document how each hour supports a specific goal.
“It’s unfair that they cut those hours for these kids and they are very strict about how we use those hours,” Katan said. “The new requirements are very specific and not inclusive of high needs kids like Taym.”
Batikha requires full support whenever he goes out, Jane said, and the stricter requirements make it harder to plan weekly community trips.
“He needs hygiene changes. He needs to be fed every two hours. And he can't be fed anywhere. I want to give him privacy for his feeding,” Jane said.
She now plans to split her five Community Connector hours over the course of a week instead of providing them all on Sundays, as she previously did.
“I care about him and I love my clients so much, so I'm definitely going to stay,” Jane said. “His parents need the time to be able to watch a movie and not worry about if their son is okay.”
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