DENVER — A bill that would overhaul Medicaid and penalize states like Colorado that provide state-funded health care coverage to undocumented immigrants advanced in a U.S. House committee on Wednesday.
Denver7 is keeping an eye on the lengthy debates in Congress over the so-called "big, beautiful bill" that would extend and increase tax cuts by making cuts to Medicaid and other benefit programs.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said several committees worked all night and have now passed their portions of the bill. He hopes to pass it in the full House and send it to the U.S. Senate before Memorial Day.
One provision could cost Colorado millions in federal funding. Starting in 2027, it would penalize states that provide state-funded health care coverage to undocumented immigrants by cutting the federal match for Medicaid expansion programs by 10%.
“It truly is a way to try to punish the state for providing these supports for undocumented folks,” said Heather Tritten, the president and CEO of the Colorado Children’s Campaign.
Republicans say the provision is long overdue.
“We make no apologies for prioritizing Americans in need over illegal immigrants,” said U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, a Kentucky Republican who serves as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over the Medicaid program.
The committee was tasked with finding $880 billion in federal spending cuts from programs under its jurisdiction to pay for tax cuts. Republicans seized on the opportunity to target mostly Democratic-controlled states that provide state-funded health care coverage to undocumented immigrants. They say their plan will strengthen Medicaid for those it was originally intended for.
“We’re ending free healthcare for illegal immigrants,” said U.S. Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Indiana, a member of the U.S House Committee on Energy and Commerce. “We are strengthening and protecting Medicaid for pregnant women, children, individuals with disabilities, low-income seniors, and vulnerable families. What we are doing is eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse because safeguarding taxpayer dollars is not heartless, it’s responsible.”
Undocumented immigrants are largely ineligible for federal health care programs. However, in recent years, a growing number of states have been finding ways to provide health care coverage to them using state dollars.
Colorado has two programs that help undocumented immigrants. OmniSalud provides state-funded subsidies to help them buy private insurance. Another program known as Cover All Coloradans is a Medicaid look-alike program funded by the state that provides coverage to children and pregnant women, regardless of their immigration status.
Tritten said Cover All Coloradans, which launched at the beginning of 2025, covers about 18,000 people, including more than 13,000 children.
Theresa Trujillo and Dana Kennedy, the co-executive directors of the Center for Health Progress, say providing health care coverage to undocumented immigrants saves taxpayers money in the long run because it reduces the chance they will end up in emergency rooms, where the costs for treating people are significantly higher.
“It is less costly for people to have health coverage for themselves, but it's also less costly for the rest of us when everybody has health coverage because we all end up paying for it in one way or another,” said Kennedy.
Trujillo said if the federal government cuts funding to Colorado, the impact will be felt beyond the undocumented immigrants.
“It's going to make health care more expensive for all of us,” said Trujillo. “If you think our emergency rooms are a mess now, when so many more people who previously had coverage do not have coverage and they don't have a primary care physician that they can see, they're all going to end up in the emergency room. And that should be hugely alarming to every person in the state.”
Tritten said a cut in federal Medicaid funding would also impact the state's budget.
"Unlike other states, Colorado has a very unique budget situation where we have constitutional restrictions on how much funding we can spend, which means that if these cuts were to happen, we don't have a way to fill those gaps," said Tritten.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank, estimates Colorado could lose $2.2 billion in federal funding for Medicaid expansion programs from 2028 to 2034 if the budget bill becomes law.
"Facing these large funding cuts, states could respond by dropping their state-funded programs that cover people who are undocumented, or by cutting enrollment, benefits, or provider payments for enrollees in these state-funded programs or in Medicaid," CBPP analysts wrote in their report.
State officials say they’re still reviewing the legislation, and right now, it’s unclear how much funding Colorado could lose if the proposal becomes law in its current form. The bill could undergo changes.
“Governor Polis urges Colorado’s congressional delegation and all of Congress not to implement drastic Medicaid cuts that would jeopardize coverage for hundreds of thousands of Coloradans who rely on this health care coverage while attempting to control state initiatives designed to help deal with the failure of the federal government to secure our border and pass immigration reform,” said Shelby Wieman, the governor’s press secretary. “Reducing the number of people without coverage saves Coloradans money on their health care, and sadly, Republicans’ proposal would cut more than 8.6 million Americans off health insurance according to the CBO (Congressional Budget Office), hurting Colorado’s health care system, and making care more expensive for everyone in our state, while harming our economy and eliminating jobs.”
Republicans argue that states like Colorado are only hurt by their proposal because of their state policies.
