DENVER — The Trump administration and now Congress have launched investigations into Colorado’s spending on health care for undocumented immigrants.
Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it was increasing oversight of states that misuse federal Medicaid funds to provide healthcare coverage to undocumented immigrants.
“Medicaid is not, and cannot be, a backdoor pathway to subsidize open borders,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “States have a duty to uphold the law and protect taxpayer funds. We are putting them on notice — CMS will not allow federal dollars to be diverted to cover those who are not lawfully eligible.”
CMS sent a data request to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF), which manages the state’s Medicaid program, describing it as “lengthy” and “more detailed” than usual.
“This is entirely unprecedented,” said Bethany Pray, the chief legal and policy officer for the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, an antipoverty law organization. “They're asking for data, detailed data, specifically on non-citizens.
Advocates and state officials feared the information CMS requested would be turned over to federal immigration authorities. Last month, a federal judge ordered CMS not to share the data with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
With that ruling offering reassurance, HCPF confirmed to Denver7 on Friday that it would send the data to CMS. Marc Williams, the spokesperson for HCPF, sent the following statement:
“HCPF takes the privacy and security of our members’ and applicants’ personal health information very seriously. HCPF is releasing this data only because a federal court ruling in August 2025 prevents CMS from sharing it with immigration enforcement authorities, and CMS has threatened to withhold more than $18 million in federal funding if the State does not comply. Importantly, the information being provided is not new - it is data the State has already submitted to CMS in other formats, with this request simply requiring it be compiled in a particular way. HCPF will continue to challenge any inappropriate use of member data and will do everything in its power to safeguard the personal health information of the people we serve.”
This week, the Republican-led U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is the same committee Denver Mayor Mike Johnston testified before in March, announced it’s also investigating Colorado and other Democratic-led states.
The committee’s chairman, U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, sent a letter to Gov. Jared Polis, asking for information, including documents and communications going back to 2019, about the state’s Medicaid program.
“Specifically, the Committee is investigating waste, fraud and abuse in several Medicaid programs due to the Biden Administration’s failure to enforce U.S. immigration laws and the resulting expansion of benefits for illegal aliens,” Comer wrote.
- Read the full letter below
Health care advocates say the committee and the Trump administration's investigations are baseless.
"There are no federal funds at all going into this program,” said Riley Kitts, the chief policy and research officer for the Colorado Children’s Campaign. “It is not right for the federal government; it is not right for any congressional oversight committee to come in and tell Colorado how to spend Colorado dollars."
The Colorado Children’s Campaign pushed for the creation of Cover All Coloradans, a state program that launched in January. The program provides health care coverage to pregnant women and children, regardless of their immigration status.
“It's been a successful program,” Kitts said. “Already, we have more than 20,000 individuals who have signed up for coverage.”
Kitts and other health advocates like Isabel Cruz with the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative accuse the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress of spreading fear.
"This fear that's being propagated is dangerous and it's harmful,” said Cruz.
Cruz said providing coverage to undocumented immigrants benefits everyone and keeps costs down.
“When we help cover people, we help stabilize our health care system and our safety net health care providers, and we also make sure that we keep costs down for everyone,” said Cruz. “Because when we have a healthy state, we have lower health care costs, and it works better for our economy and for our health care system.”
Colorado Congressman Gabe Evans, who represents the 8th District, said he applauds the oversight.
“For too long, Coloradans have been forced to front the bill for government handouts to illegal immigrants, including free health care,” Evans said. “I applaud this move by the Trump administration because the government must be better stewards of taxpayer dollars, and we need to make sure taxpayer resources are going to Americans first.”
Polis' office said it's still reviewing Comer's letter.
The letter asks Colorado officials to provide the documents no later than Sept. 17.
