The Infrastructure We Build - August 1, 2026 - And a revised Petition!
Hello, Caregiver Advocates:
806 signatures. 194 from 1,000.
I want to tell you what happened this week - because you are part of it.
On July 28, the Colorado Commission on Medicaid met for five hours. Substantive testimony. Engaged commissioners. And in five hours, not one person in that room surfaced the family caregiver-to-institutionalization cost curve.
Not the 33-person threshold - the calculation showing that only 33 arrangement failures statewide erase the $1.1 million in projected savings from the caregiver hour cap. Not the preemption gap. Not the actuarial void.
The gap wasn't contested. It simply was not there.
CASI submitted that analysis the same day - through every available channel - and received a direct, named invitation to attend office hours with the Commission's facilitating organization on August 4.
The target is a presentation slot at the August 20 or September 2 Commission meeting.
I have also revised the petition itself this week - and I want to be transparent about what changed and why. The original framing positioned the CARE Act as a Colorado issue. That was an undersell. Six states have already passed caregiver workplace protections: Alaska, Delaware, Minnesota, New York, Illinois, and Maine. More than 200 municipalities have enacted local protections. Colorado is fighting to become the seventh. That is the story this petition now tells - because that is the true scope of what we are building.
Every name on this petition is evidence I carry into that room. Senator Amabile, Senator Mullica, and Senator Bennet are named targets of this petition - the decision makers it is designed to reach. They are watching.
The goal is 1,000. The gap is 194.
If you've signed - share it today with one person who is carrying something the Commission's documents cannot see.
If you haven't signed - this is the moment.
Thank you for being here.
Kindly and Gratefully,
Mark Fukae
Director of Advocacy, Professionals Who Care
Founder, CASI - Caregiver Advocacy Support Initiative
mark_fukae@casiadvocacy.org | casiadvocacy.org