February 13, 2026 09:49 AM UTC

Colorado Pays The "Gabe Evans Tax" Instead of Dying

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• by: Colorado Pols

A story from 9NEWS last night on the fallout from the passage last summer of the federal GOP budget bill known as the “We’re All Going To Die Act,” which among its many nips and tucks ended enhanced subsidies on health insurance premiums, contains some good news: policy renewals on the Affordable Care Act marketplace in Colorado did not drop nearly as much as initially feared based on the expected “sticker shock” of higher premiums for 2026:

Colorado’s health insurance marketplace saw far fewer losses than predicted this year, despite warnings from state leaders that enrollment on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace could plummet if U.S. lawmakers didn’t extend premium tax credits. Connect for Health Colorado reported just a 2% drop in enrollment, far below the projected 30% decline, but roughly 5,200 people were still affected…

Let’s be clear: premiums did increase for thousands of Coloradans. But the choice to go without coverage is simply unworkable for too many households. As a result, more people than expected are simply paying more and cutting corners elsewhere, while others shopped for cheaper plans that could come back to bite them later if they have a major medical expense.

Also in Colorado, the state legislature also did what they could to help:

Kevin Patterson, CEO of Connect for Health Colorado, said the lower-than-expected drop was largely due to a state program passed in the fall to provide financial assistance to people losing premium tax credits. According to Patterson, about 69% of enrollees this year received some kind of financial help.

“We heard from brokers and assistants and even with our own call center that that [program] made a significant difference [but] it wasn’t enough to make up for everything that people were losing,” he said.

A combination of help at the state level and simple overriding need is what kept more people insured in Colorado than expected, and at the end of the day it’s already cash-strapped households in Colorado who made up the difference out of their own pockets. And with the state facing an extremely difficult budget debate in the coming weeks, nobody knows if there will be money to keep the state-based subsidy funds flowing for 2027.

And for 5,200 Coloradans, fewer than expected but still a lot, it still wasn’t enough.

In short, the good news of fewer people going without health coverage than expected is complicated by the increased financial burden on Coloradans required to get there. That is not something we expect to see Republicans celebrate–and if they do, they’ll be leaving out the part that matters most. Republicans like Gabe Evans, who have trashed not only the Obamacare subsidies but Colorado’s public health system in general for years, have nothing more to offer to voters paying more for less as a direct consequence of his vote than a shrug.

On Election Day, those voters will know exactly who to blame.