Cuts to Medicaid Proposed by Congressional Republicans Would Have a Devastating Impact on Health Care Access for Colorado Residents in the Western Slope and Southern Colorado - Families USA Skip to Main Content
03.21.2025 / Press Release

Cuts to Medicaid Proposed by Congressional Republicans Would Have a Devastating Impact on Health Care Access for Colorado Residents in the Western Slope and Southern Colorado

Families USA’s New Fact Sheet Highlights Importance of Medicaid for CO-03’s Families

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – A new fact sheet from Families USA details the impacts of deep cuts to the Medicaid program in the Republican budget proposal that Rep. Jeff Hurd voted for, which would have devastating consequences for the health and economic security in the Western Slope and Southern Colorado. Medicaid provides health care coverage for 194,000 Coloradans, including 75,000 children, according to the fact sheet. This district has the Medicaid enrollment in the state.

“Americans have been showing up in townhalls, calling their representatives in Congress and demanding that Republicans in Washington stop their plan to massively cut the health care that Americans want and need,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA. “The proposed deep cuts to Medicaid would be devastating for Colorado residents, resulting in significant coverage losses, forcing rural hospitals, long-term care facilities or community clinics to close or scale back services, and throwing state budgets into crisis. We should all be asking every member of Congress who voted for this budget why they are willing to harm working families in their own district just to pay for a tax break for billionaires.”

Medicaid is a lifeline for the Western Slope and Southern Colorado:

  • 194,000 people — 30% of all residents living in CO-03.
  • 75,000 children are on Medicaid — 49% of all children in CO-03.
  • 37,800 seniors and people with disabilities have Medicaid coverage.

Families in Colorado Already Struggle to Pay for Health Care:

  • 82% of people living in Western Colorado are worried about affording health care.
  • 31% of people living in Western Colorado had to deplete savings, take on debt, or sacrifice basic necessities to obtain medical care.
  • 61% of people living in Western Colorado skipped needed care due to cost.

Families USA, the longtime health care consumer advocate, is organizing with groups in Colorado and across the nation to protect Medicaid from severe cuts, caps or other regulations that will result in millions of Americans losing access to the health care they need. Earlier this year, Families USA led hundreds of organizations to call on Congress and the Trump administration to reject cuts to Medicaid and work to make health care more affordable, not less.

For additional resources, see Families USA’s fact sheets on how work reporting requirements would undermine access to Medicaid, how cuts harm families and communities, and the overall importance of Medicaid to people, the economy and the health care system.

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