Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton. Credit:Colorado Newsline

Democrats, nonprofit advocates and health providers from across Colorado recently slammed U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans’ vote in favor of a Republican plan to reduce Medicaid spending by an estimated $625 billion over the next 10 years.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce advanced the plan — part of a sweeping GOP budget package that envisions trillions of dollars in tax cuts paired with trillions more in cuts to spending programs — after a marathon 26-hour hearing that began in Washington. Evans, a Fort Lupton Republican elected to Congress last year, was one of 30 GOP committee members to vote in favor of the cuts, with all 24 Democrats opposed.

About 1 in 4 of Evans’ constituents in the 8th Congressional District, which includes the northern Denver metro area and parts of Weld County, receive Medicaid benefits. Advocates with Protect Our Care Colorado, a coalition of groups opposed to Medicaid cuts, said that Evans’ yes vote broke a promise he made last month not to “support cuts that harm Colorado providers or patients.”

“The shameful cuts advanced in the Energy and Commerce Committee today … will force Colorado to make impossible choices,” said Kathy White, executive director of the Colorado Fiscal Institute. “These cuts to Medicaid have nothing to do with fiscal responsibility or improving efficiency. They take critical healthcare away from people, plain and simple, to finance tax cuts for the rich.”

Colorado lawmakers adjourned their 2025 legislative session last week, but have openly discussed the likelihood that they will have to return for a special session later this year to manage the impact of up to $1 billion in federal cuts to the state-administered Medicaid program.

House Republicans’ plan, part of a so-called budget reconciliation bill, includes new work requirements for Medicaid enrollees, a suspension of Biden-era rules aimed at streamlining enrollment and renewal, reductions to federal matching and cost-sharing rates, and more. An analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, shared with States Newsroom by Republican staff on the Energy and Commerce Committee, estimates that the Medicaid changes would add up to $625 billion in cuts over the next decade.

At nearly 10% of projected spending over that period, it would be the largest cut in the program’s 50-year history. About 10.3 million people would lose access to Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, with 7.6 million people becoming uninsured during the 10-year budget window, according to the CBO analysis, which has yet to be released publicly.

In a written statement, Evans dismissed concerns about the cuts as “fear mongering for political purposes,” and said the GOP reconciliation bill will preserve Medicaid “for the people who need it most.”

“This bill follows through on our promises to cut waste, fraud and abuse while simultaneously protecting coverage for Colorado’s most vulnerable populations,” he said.

Evans didn’t speak at any point during the Energy and Commerce Committee’s lengthy hearing on the bill, which dragged on as Democrats introduced a series of unsuccessful amendments and procedural motions. He skipped at least one vote, on an amendment brought by Democrats to repeal a provision in the bill prohibiting Planned Parenthood from receiving any federal funds, even to cover the costs of cancer screenings, birth control and other non-abortion-related services.

As the clock neared 1 a.m. in Washington, Democrats moved for a recess until the morning, but Republicans defeated the motion on a party-line vote.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat, speaks during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Republicans’ budget reconciliation plan. Credit: U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee

Denver U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, the No. 2 Democrat on the committee, said in a statement on Wednesday’s vote that Republicans had plowed ahead with the hearing “to hide what they are doing from the American people.”

“House Republicans are so focused on appeasing Trump and giving tax cuts to billionaires that they are gutting essential health care programs and providers,” DeGette said. “I called out their cuts throughout the markup, and I am going to continue to fight to protect Medicaid and access to health care as Republicans try to jam this monstrosity of a bill through Congress.”

Democrats say a nationwide Medicaid work requirement, coupled with new mandates for eligibility verification and other obstacles to enrollment enacted by the bill, are extraneous hurdles that will deny care to millions of eligible Americans. Nearly two-thirds of Medicaid recipients are already employed, and nearly all the rest are caregivers, students and people with disabilities, according to the nonprofit KFF. Studies have found that state-level Medicaid work requirements, like one enacted in Arkansas, result in substantial losses of coverage and higher administrative costs, but no change in the rate of employment.

In addition to the projected rise in the number of uninsured Americans from Medicaid cuts, Democrats pointed to a CBO analysis showing that an additional 5 million people will lose coverage if Republicans, as expected, decline to extend insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act before they expire this year, bringing the total number losing insurance to 13.7 million.