‘Pregnant people’: Colorado health program for illegals blows past cost estimates ..l by 600%
Facing a budget pinch, Colorado lawmakers are cutting spending to largely sustain funding for a program subsidizing “pregnant people” regardless of immigration status.
“Cover All Coloradans” is expected to cost 611% more than originally projected this year, according to the state Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee.
The costly program is now a focus of a U.S. House race as the Trump administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services investigates Colorado’s spending on health care for illegal immigrants.
Late Tuesday and early into Wednesday, state lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee drafted a proposal with significant budget cuts, the Colorado Public Radio reported. The cuts included a 2% reduction in Medicaid spending, a $300 million reduction in state tax refunds, cuts to services for adoptive families, reduced funding for law enforcement, and allowing state colleges and universities to hike tuition.
However, Cover All Coloradans was capped to prevent future cost overruns but was not reduced. Future enrollment in the proposal is set at 25,000, and costs are capped at $96 million. The proposal still has to be passed by the full Legislature.
“Democrats are more committed to Cover All Coloradans than most other state programs, but the 611% above estimates is a real headache for them,” Republican state Rep. Carlos Barron told The Daily Signal.
The program covers children and pregnant women who would otherwise qualify for Medicaid but for their immigration status.
When Democrat Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill creating the program in 2022, supporters estimated it would cover about 3,700 people when it took effect in 2025. The program now covers about 28,000 people, and estimated costs have soared from $14.7 million to $104.5 million in the coming fiscal year. This has contributed to the state’s $1.5 billion budget shortfall.
Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing spokeswoman Natalie Coulter told The Daily Signal, “We don’t have anything further to add on this topic.”
The department’s website states, “A new law called ‘Cover All Coloradans’ helps children and pregnant people get health coverage, no matter what their immigration status is.”
The department lists as eligible applicants “pregnant people,” “people whose pregnancy ends on or after Jan. 1, 2025,” and “any child 18 or younger.”
The program encourages illegal immigrants to “stay illegal,” said Barron, whose family legally immigrated from Mexico to the United States when he was a child.
“Taxpayer dollars are being misused for people who are noncitizens in Colorado. These resources should be refocused on the citizens of Colorado with their tax dollars,” Barron said.
Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., who represents the state’s 8th Congressional District, is a former state legislator and said the program is part of an ongoing problem.
“For years, Governor Polis and Colorado’s Democrats have prioritized illegal immigrants over hardworking Colorado families—driving up costs, straining our health care system, and forcing cuts to services Coloradans depend on,” Evans told The Daily Signal in a statement.
The Justice Department has identified Colorado as a “sanctuary state.” The state has spent about $563 million on illegal immigrants since 2021, Fox News reported.
The Republican National Committee notes that two Democrats seeking to challenge Evans in November voted to create the program in 2022.
State Rep. Manny Rutinel and state Rep. Shannon Bird, chairwoman of the Joint Budget Committee, are running in the June Democratic primary for the 8th Congressional District. Bird voted for the program in the original 2022 legislation and, in 2025, co-sponsored legislation that fully funded it. Rutinel voted to fund the program.
Neither campaign responded to inquiries for this story. Rutinel’s legislative office also did not respond.
The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing issued a statement to The Colorado Sun, saying, “One of the primary drivers in total expenditure in this program has been higher-than-anticipated and growing enrollment.”
This week, the department’s executive director, Kim Bimestefer, announced she would resign amid criticism from lawmakers over management of the department and the budget shortfall.
The governor’s office did not respond to inquiries from The Daily Signal for this story.
Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Democrat and one of the authors of the 2022 bill creating the program, told The Colorado Sun, “We made those decisions based on the forecasts in front of us.” She added, “There have been unanticipated impacts.”
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]