Colorado recently became one of the few states in the nation to expand its Medicaid program, offering coverage for the first time to adults without children.

Like so much having to do with Medicaid, it hasn't been easy.

With money tight, the state decided to cap the number of enrollees in the expansion to just 10,000 residents, people earning only 10 percent or less of the federal poverty level. That meant leaving out tens of thousands of other Coloradans who earn more but are still unable to afford health insurance.

As it turned out, far fewer people than expected were signing up, with just about 6,000 applications filed by the middle of May.

Nearly 600,000 Coloradans are on Medicaid at the moment, including about 70,000 children on Child Health Plan. Until recently, Medicaid in the state was limited to poor children, pregnant women, the disabled and some elderly. The reason for this is that Medicaid is funded through a dollar-for-dollar match from the federal government to help cover those demographics, but offers no matching funds for adults without kids.

That all changed when the Affordable Care Act passed. Under the legislation -- upheld by the Supreme Court on Thursday -- states can