Guest opinion: Judy Amabile: Medicaid cuts will hurt you too
PUBLISHED: May 30, 2025
By Judy Amabile
Republicans in Congress are pushing a bill that includes deep cuts to Medicaid. If it passes, America’s health care system will be devastated.
Medicaid is a federal health insurance program that covers low-income Americans, including some 1.3 million Coloradans, 37% of whom are children, 7% have a disability and 6% are seniors. Cuts would hurt the least among us most, but to be clear, every American will be impacted.
Many of my constituents work independently and purchase their own health insurance. It’s already prohibitively expensive, but if this bill becomes law, it will get worse. When large numbers of people lose Medicaid coverage, they will undoubtedly delay care and get sicker or seek emergency room care. All of this drives steep costs to our health care system. Every working family will pay.
The high costs of health care are top of mind for Coloradans. Nearly 1 in 5 (19.8%) of Coloradans put off needed care in 2023 because they could not afford it. This rate was almost three times higher (56.2%) for uninsured Coloradans.
Some of my biggest concerns are personal. I have a loved one with a serious mental illness who relies on Medicaid for essential psychiatric care. In the state legislature, I have worked hard to increase access to mental health care across our state.
Colorado communities are already reeling from the impacts of inadequate treatment for psychosis and substance disorders. Our community mental health centers serve almost 100% Medicaid patients. These facilities could end up shutting down if the cuts are passed. More people will be homeless, cycle through emergency rooms and end up in jail.
As America’s single largest payer of behavioral health services, Medicaid is essential in providing people with the mental health care that they need. Medicaid also connects people with life-saving substance disorder treatment, including the 96,000 people in Colorado who used Medicaid to treat a substance use disorder in 2021. Opioid deaths in the U.S. have begun to decline in recent years, but cuts to the Medicaid program could bring that progress to a screeching halt.
Cuts to Medicaid will mean hospitals have to decide between closing their doors or scaling back life-saving services. Nearly half (48.9%) of Denver Health patients rely on Medicaid to pay for their care. The bill will exacerbate the scarcity of hospitals in rural areas of the state, which serve a higher number of patients covered by Medicaid.
People not only depend on these hospitals for their care but also for work, meaning that cuts to Medicaid will result in serious job losses. Private practitioners who accept Medicaid will struggle to keep their doors open. In fact, should federal cuts occur, Colorado could lose around 12,000 jobs, including 6,400 in the health care sector.
One of my constituents in Boulder had a debilitating stroke at the age of 42. He uses a wheelchair and experiences constant fatigue. This bill could require him to work 80 hours a month to access the health care his Medicaid coverage provides. Work requirements have proven costly for states to implement and could result in 495,000 people in Colorado alone — including 25,000 children — losing coverage. The solution to our health care problems is not more bureaucracy.
Destabilizing our health care system to give the wealthiest Americans a tax break is wrong. Removing people from their Medicaid coverage will not make their medical needs go away, it will only make them sicker. Cuts to Medicaid will drive up the cost of health care for everyone.
Now is the time to speak up. Write to your Colorado’ representatives in Washington. Tell them you don’t want to pay more for health care or see the poorest Americans suffer so the richest can get a tax break. Hands off Medicaid.
Judy Amabile is a Colorado State Senator representing District 18.