Cuts to Medicaid would affect one in five Coloradans
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To pay for the priorities of President Donald Trump's administration, like mass deportations and tax cuts, Republicans in Congress are considering cuts to a host of programs supporting people living paycheck to paycheck.
Potential cuts include $880 billion to Medicaid over the next decade.
Adam Fox, deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, said 1.2 million Coloradans rely on Medicaid, including pregnant mothers, people with disabilities, working families and nearly six in 10 people in nursing facilities.
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"It provides coverage to so many in our communities, it is really the foundational block in our health care and health coverage systems," Fox pointed out. "If Medicaid gets cut, it puts the entire health care system at risk."
Republicans have said cuts to Medicaid could be made without reducing benefits by overhauling and improving the program, which, according to analysis by Reuters, serves 35 million Americans in states President Donald Trump won in the 2024 election. In a recent survey, seven in 10 Trump voters said cutting Medicaid is unacceptable.
Colorado faces a $1.2 billion budget deficit, largely due to the state's tax code under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR. Fox acknowledged in many ways, the state's hands will be tied if Congress cuts Medicaid funding.
"Colorado cannot raise revenue, because of TABOR, to make up the difference," Fox noted. "Any cuts at the federal level will mean that Colorado has to reduce benefits, or strip people of coverage."
America's for-profit health system costs more than twice as much as other wealthy nations per capita. Fox argued what is needed is a health system covering every American and controlling costs. Compared to all other current health programs, Fox stressed Medicaid is the most efficient at meeting those goals.
"What we probably should be focusing on is really expanding Medicaid to everyone -- who is not eligible for Medicare, at least -- rather than cutting the program," Fox urged.
