Nearly two millennia ago Jesus of Nazareth said, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). Colorado’s Capitol is a long way in space and time from ancient Israel, but the principle remains and is often illustrated during the legislature’s annual budget week. We see where people’s values are by programs that lawmakers do – or do not – fund.
The first observation about budget week is a broad one: Governor Polis and majority Democrats like to make a distinction between Washington DC and Denver. They speak of the ‘Colorado way’ so as to suggest that the dirty and deceitful politics of the national capitol never make their way to the state one. Don’t believe it. Here’s an example: with all the talk of Colorado being financially underwater and having to slash programs, you probably assume (as certain politicos intend) that this year’s state budget is smaller than last year’s. But it’s not true. Total spending in last year’s budget bill (the “long bill”, for short) came to $43.6 billion. Total for this year? About 3 billion dollars more, at $46.6 billion.
This is another phase of the majority’s spending binge that has seen the state population increase 4.4% since 2019, while the state budget has increased 44%. Amazing.
A conflict of values
One of the budget-related bills debated last week, House Bill 26-1411, provides a picture of the differing values held by majority Democrats and minority Republicans. The bill would have placed a cap – not a cut – on the growth of the “Colorado for All” program at 25%. What does the program do?
This requires understanding a larger context. About 10 million immigrants come to the United States legally every year.[3] That fact, probably surprising to many, makes it clear that America is a welcoming country. But our generosity was abused under the leadership of President Biden. His administration simply chose not to enforce immigration law and, as a result, some 8 to 11 million entered the country illegally.
Their arrival put tremendous strains on Colorado’s housing and healthcare markets – rents increased and emergency rooms were filled with people looking for care. The city of Denver and its progressive leadership spent about $80 million to provide for the housing, feeding, and doctoring of the uninvited newcomers – at the expense of city jobs and city services (this figure does not include another $98 million spent to enroll the children of migrants in public schools.
But even this level of spending was unacceptably small for majority Democrats in the legislature. As a result, they passed two major pieces of legislation related to migrant healthcare. In 2020, Democrats passed Senate Bill 215. The purpose of the bill was to collect money from legal residents to purchase private health insurance for those in the country illegally. Under SB-215 those earning less than $79,000 a year are qualified for healthcare premium subsidies “regardless of immigration status”. The program is now known as Omnisalud and works with the state’s insurance exchange under the label “Colorado Connect”.
How was the program funded? A new fee was attached to every health care premium paid in the state. This fee (and many would argue that it’s a tax because there is no direct benefit to the fee-payer) is collected from insurance carriers by the ‘Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise.” The fee runs to about $400-600 per policy per year, but because the fee is charged to insurance companies rather than individuals, it won’t show up directly on your insurance bill – instead, your premiums simply increase. The Enterprise has collected hundreds of millions of dollars since its inception, and about 11,000 migrants (and families) are now covered by these subsidized healthcare policies.
But that’s not all. In 2022 Democrats passed House Bill 1289, titled “Health Benefits for Colorado Children and Pregnant Persons.” The federal government doesn’t allow illegal migrants to receive Medicaid, but this bill was created to mirror Medicaid benefits for them using your taxes. While Medicaid costs are typically shared between the state and federal governments, this new program – labeled “Cover all Coloradans” – is paid for almost entirely by state funds (i.e., taxpayers). And boy, is there a lot of paying to do.
When first enacted, the fiscal note accompanying the bill said that it would eventually cover some 3,600 individuals. HB-1289 also funded “outreach efforts” to ensure more and more people could get coverage. But the real cost drivers – coverage for migrant children and pregnant women – didn’t take effect until 2024-25. The program was expected to cost $7.1 million in General Fund dollars that year. Instead, the state spent almost $26 million to cover 9,000 people and then, for 2025-26, when costs were expected to be less than $14.7 million, the state spent $104.6 million. For this coming year (2026-27), costs are expected to rise to almost $130 million. At present almost 28,000 people are enrolled in the program.
Budget busting
But back to House Bill 1411. “Cover All Coloradans” is already 711% over budget. The Joint Budget Committee (who authored the bill) was willing to let enrollment for children to increase from 21,000 to 25,000 at a cost of $21 million more dollars (for a total of nearly $130 million). Republicans ran amendments to freeze enrollment at existing levels and divert the money saved to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). These patients require 24/7 care that, in most instances, is provided by family members (funding for IDD care had been slashed in half by the JBC for 2026-27). Each of those amendments was voted down.
But the Democrat majority wasn’t finished. They passed an amendment to HB-1411 that removed the cap on childcare coverage so there would be no limits on the Cover All Colorado program. At current rates of growth, taxpayers could soon be on the hook to provide healthcare for 40,000 or even 50,000 undocumented migrants. Unsurprisingly, Democrats said they could pay for much of the expected increase by taking money out of the Department of Corrections’ budget (after all, they don’t really want people in prison).
So…Democrats wouldn’t fight for additional funding for those in the IDD community, and wouldn’t fund the Department of Corrections to required levels, but they would – and did – fight hard for those that have skirted our laws and come to the US illegally. Wow. On top of that, they passed a “balanced budget” that will not, in fact, be balanced thanks to their amendment to HB-1411.
The fight over the state budget is a fight about priorities; the fight over HB-1411 illustrates what the majority cares about most. I refuse to believe that most Coloradans agree with them.
What will ultimately happen to this year’s budget? We’ll see when the budget bill gets to the Senate. One thing is for sure: politicians can talk all they want about ‘values’, but when they vote on the budget, they demonstrate what their values are and where their allegiances lie. As I’ve said before, Democrats do care a lot – they just don’t care about you.
Scott Bottoms represents House District 15 in the Colorado legislature.
