Republican Congress Chooses Cuts to Health Care for Seniors, Children, and the Disabled to Pay for Tax Breaks for the Ultra-Wealthy

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MEDIA RELEASE
February 25, 2025
Contact: Adam Fox, afox@cohealthinitiative.org, 303-563-9108
Katie Reinisch, katie@progressive-promotions.com, 303-653-1009

DENVER – Republicans in Congress just pushed through a rushed budget resolution, one of the first major steps towards passing the Trump Administration’s fiscal agenda. It includes deep cuts to Medicaid — at last word, approximately $880 billion — from a program that serves more than 70 million people nationwide and 1.1 million in Colorado. Nearly 1 in 5 Coloradans receive their health care from Medicaid. Six of every 10 Coloradans in nursing facilities rely on Medicaid, and Medicaid is vital for providing in-home care to help people with disabilities and aging adults live independently. Over 34% of Colorado children are covered through Medicaid. The cuts would undermine Colorado’s hard work to expand coverage, essentially ending Medicaid expansion and ripping that expanded coverage from roughly 400,000 Coloradans.

Statement from Adam Fox, deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative:
“You can’t cut hundreds of billions from Medicaid without taking healthcare away from millions of seniors living in long-term care, children, and people with disabilities. Rushing these cuts will hurt those who can least afford care – and won’t do anything to lower our healthcare costs for the average Colorado family. At a time when our state budget already faces a $1 billion gap, these cuts will devastate our state’s economy, threatening 300,000 healthcare provider jobs, while perhaps pushing teetering rural providers over the cliff. They are going to strip health coverage from countless Coloradans and tank our economy all in the name of creating tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.”

Statement from Stephanie Felix-Sowy, President of Service Employees International Union Local 105, uniting over 8,000 property services and healthcare workers across the Mountain West, and the largest healthcare union in Colorado:
“House Republicans’ budget proposal is a direct threat to over a million Coloradans who rely on Medicaid. Slashing healthcare to fund tax breaks for billionaires will devastate working families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities across our state. This is just another example in the long list of actions taken by Republicans to favor billionaires over the rest of us. These cuts won’t just take healthcare away—they’ll force clinics to close, overwhelm hospitals, and put frontline healthcare workers out of jobs. Instead of making life more affordable, this plan will create more hardship for Coloradans already struggling. Our communities deserve better.”

Statement from Hunter Nelson, Small Business Majority’s Colorado director:
“Any changes that make healthcare more expensive could have a potentially devastating impact on Colorado’s small businesses. After payroll, healthcare coverage is already the highest cost for small firms. If Congress and the Trump administration make drastic cuts to Medicaid and eliminate premium tax credits that help make healthcare coverage purchased on Affordable Care Act marketplaces more affordable for many small business owners and their employees, insurance that is now very costly but within budget would become unaffordable. This could mean many entrepreneurs are forced to go work for someone else just to have access to health insurance, or that employees of small businesses would seek jobs at larger companies mainly for stronger benefits. The result of that migration would be that much of our small businesses community would no longer exist.”

Statement from Phyllis Albritton, Colorado Safety Net Collaborative:
“While many of our members do not serve people with Medicaid, some do. Medicaid is an important safety net for so many people in low-wage jobs so that they can keep working and providing for their families. Let’s not take that away as the economy worsens. It will just increase healthcare costs for everyone else and keep people from working.”

Statement from Amanda Boone, Co-Founder of Cystic Fibrosis United:
“Many individuals living with Cystic Fibrosis and other Rare Diseases depend on the Colorado Medicaid program to access critical care. From children and families benefiting from the waiver program, to those enrolled in the Medicaid Buy-In and traditional Medicaid. Should the state lose any federal funding, patients would lose access to essential care, jeopardizing their ability to live healthy, fulfilling lives, potentially forcing them to seek emergency care. We urge our members of Congress to protect our community from these cuts and approach the budget with careful consideration to ensure that those who rely on these services are not left without the care they need.”

Statement from Heather Tritten, President/CEO of The Colorado Children’s Campaign:
“Hundreds of thousands of Colorado families have access to health care, food to eat, or support for their basic needs because of federal funding for programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF. Cutting funding would have direct, often devastating impacts on children’s lives and futures. We call on our representatives in Washington to support children across Colorado and to create a responsible budget that invests in our communities.”