On Wednesday, a panel of top Colorado healthcare executives warned that federal cuts to Medicaid, under the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, will affect not only Medicaid recipients but Colorado’s wider health care system, pushing up costs and the number of uninsured people across the state.
“What H.R.1 [the Big Beautiful Bill] in essence is doing, whether it starts immediately or if it’s over ten years, is undoing Obamacare,” said Mitzi Moran, chief executive officer at Sunrise Community Health. “So it’s undoing the tax subsidies to support people being able to afford health insurance, and it’s reducing the number of people who are on Medicaid. They’re either doing that through eligibility or they’re doing that … by requiring work requirements or other things. It’s going to lead to a reduction.”
Dr. Mark Wallace, representing the North Colorado Health Alliance, explained that, when people lose Medicaid coverage, it affects everyone because “the more people who are uninsured, the higher insured premiums are.”
Lyle Smith-Graybeal, chief operating officer at United Way of Weld County, echoed this sentiment, explaining, “These costs are gonna be borne somewhere and people will get healthcare, and if it’s in the emergency department, it will just be more expensive and people will come in less healthy.”…