May 21, 2025 01:38 PM UTC

‘They Know It’s Going to Hurt People.’ Coloradans Decry GOP Medicaid Cuts During Town Hall

• 6 Comments
• by: Robert Davis

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Originally posted at the Colorado Times Recorder

Wayla Murrow and her daughter Cynda have been Medicaid members for 12 years. They applied when Cynda turned 18 so that she could access medical care to support her intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Since becoming a member, Cynda, 30, has joined community programs that give her and her family independence. Medicaid also helped her access speech therapy and health care for her heart condition, asthma, and anxiety. Without these services, Wayla says Cynda would not be able to do the things she loves, like riding her pink three-wheel bike around the neighborhood.

“All [Cynda] has been able to accomplish would not have been possible without Medicaid,” Wayla said.

But like many Coloradans, Wayla worries that Cynda will soon lose access to her Medicaid benefits as Republicans in Congress seek to cut hundreds of billions from the program to pay for President Donald Trump’s domestic spending and tax bill.

“Please don’t cut Medicaid. It helps me,” Cynda said.

Wayla and Cynda were two of the dozens of Coloradans who attended a town hall Tuesday to discuss the importance of Medicaid, a program funded by Colorado and the federal government that helps low-income households afford medical care. It was held at the Bison Ridge Recreation Center in Adams County. Thirty percent of Adams County residents are enrolled in Medicaid, according to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.

Attendees included advocacy groups, nurse practitioners, union representatives, Medicaid recipients, and elected officials like Commerce City City Council member Kristi Douglas, state treasurer Dave Young, and state Rep. Manny Rutinel (D-Commerce City).

The town hall happened just hours before the House Rules Committee held a middle-of-the-night hearing on Trump’s domestic $4.5 trillion spending bill, named the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.” It was the second midnight hearing for the bill in a week, which Democrats say is a sign Republicans want to hide the bill from voters.

The proposed law would cut $698 billion from Medicaid by 2034, $267 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and $64 billion in all other spending. It would also expand the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion over the next decade by extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts while increasing spending on immigration enforcement and defense, according to an updated analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office,

“They know this is a bad bill,” said Adam Fox, deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. “They know it’s going to hurt people.”

Medicaid Flip-Flop

Trump had previously vowed not to touch Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security as his administration sought to find waste, fraud, and abuse in federal entitlement programs.

However, Republicans realized earlier this year that they could only make the math of Trump’s spending bill work by making significant cuts to Medicaid.

Republicans have proposed a set of sweeping changes to the entitlement program. For instance, the GOP proposal would eliminate the incentive for states to expand Medicaid starting in 2026, require states to exempt mental health or substance abuse treatments from cost-sharing programs, and require Medicaid recipients to work or volunteer at least 80 hours per month to receive assistance beginning in 2029.

The CBO estimates that the move could cause 6.7 million people across the U.S., including more than 207,000 people in Colorado alone, to lose their health insurance coverage.

More than 1.14 million people across Colorado, including roughly 388,000 children, receive Medicaid benefits, according to KFF. Three-quarters of Medicaid recipients have jobs.

Maisha Fields, a nurse practitioner and the director of community partnerships at Salud Family Health Centers, described the GOP’s work requirements as duplicative. “Those who can work do,” Fields said.

Cynda Murrow worked 11 hours a week as a cashier at Walgreens for nine years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Wayla says Cynda was let go because her accommodations were too much for her employer. Cynda applies for jobs frequently, Wayla added, but finding a job that she can do has become increasingly difficult.

Lisa Buesig worked full-time as a caregiver since 2002 until she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis earlier this year. Outside of keeping her healthy enough to care for others, Buesig said Medicaid also helped her when she experienced homelessness. Buesig said Medicaid helped her late son access medical care for his heart condition while they lived in a car and then a garage for a year.

“He would have died much earlier if he didn’t have Medicaid,” Buesig said.

Buesig added that Medicaid does need to be reformed, but none of the changes involve taking money away from the program.

“I don’t need my government kicking me when I’m down,” Buesig said.

“Morally wrong and politically suicidal”

Some Republicans in Congress have called on their party to stop attempting to cut Medicaid. Fourteen House Republicans, including Colorado Rep. Jeff Hurd, wrote a letter to their colleagues in April asking them not to cut Medicaid. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri wrote an op-ed in The New York Times in May that says the cuts are “morally wrong and politically suicidal.” Trump himself has also warned House Republicans not to “fuck around” with cutting Medicaid.

Even so, Trump supports the “Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which makes a variety of changes that would result in serious cuts to the healthcare program — as do Colorado’s Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert, Jeff Crank, and Gabe Evans. On CNN last week, Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd, who represents the 3rd Congressional District, sounded supportive of a more recent version of the bill as well.

Evans, who represents Adams County in the 8th Congressional District, voted on May 15 with other House Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee to advance the bill. The vote took place in the middle of the night after a marathon 26.5-hour markup session.

Evans has also described criticism of his support for Medicaid cuts as “fear-mongering,” a line that Rep. Jeff Crank has also used to dismiss critics. 

About 214,000 people, or 27% of constituents in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, are Medicaid recipients, KFF data shows. 

Evans did not attend yesterday’s town hall on May 20.

Rutinel plans to challenge Evans for his seat during the 2026 primary elections. Other candidates for the seat include former Democrat Rep. Yadira Caraveo, who was defeated by Evans, state Rep. Shannon Bird (D-Westminster), and John Szemler, who describes himself on his campaign website as a “former Republican.”

In April, Gov. Jared Polis and Lt. Gov. Diane Primavera, both Democrats, called on Colorado’s Congressional officials to protect funding for Medicaid. They said potential cuts to Medicaid could cause Colorado to lose 12,000 jobs, $1.3 billion in state GDP, and $82 million in state and local tax dollars in 2026.

“Cuts could take health coverage away from hundreds of thousands of Coloradans and millions of Americans from seeing their doctors; they will push thousands of uninsured Coloradans into medical bankruptcy, increase uncompensated care to providers, close rural hospitals, and drive up premiums and costs for all Americans,” Polis and Primavera said in a joint statement. 

State financial mess

At yesterday’s town hall, Young said the GOP’s cuts to Medicaid are an attempt to force states to pay for more of the program, instead of the federal government. However, Colorado’s budget mess makes it impossible for the state to pick up more of the tab.

“We simply can’t do it,” Young said.

Colorado faced a more than $1 billion shortfall in its 2025 budget, and Medicaid is the state’s largest expenditure. Colorado contributes about $5 billion to its state Medicaid program from its General Fund. Another $10 billion comes from federal coffers.

Lawmakers were able to close that gap without making any major cuts to Medicaid, but Fox said that likely won’t be the case if the issue comes up again during the next legislative session.

“Nobody is coming to save us,” Young said. “We’re going to have to do this on our own.”