Newsletter | March 2025

I was encouraged to see so many of our members at the Capitol for our Lobby Day last week. This is a very tough budget year for Colorado, and we’re having to fight hard just to hold on to our COLAs and Step raises. A strong presence at Lobby Day definitely helps.

But things are about to get a lot tougher for everyone in Colorado, unless we make our voices heard and stop federal Medicaid cuts.

As you’ve heard by now, Congress has directed the committee that oversees Medicaid and Medicare to cut $880 billion over ten years. Almost all of that would come from Medicaid. Right now, Colorado’s Medicaid program is paid for with $7 billion from the state’s general fund and $9 billion from the feds. Every penny of that $9 billion is at risk.

Medicaid cuts would jeopardize healthcare for 1.2 million or one fifth of Coloradans, close hospitals, medical clinics, and nursing homes–especially in rural districts–and drive up healthcare costs for everyone. 

State employees are among those who will be directly impacted, especially those who either rely on Medicaid for themselves or for family members, those who administer Medicaid and whose jobs are at least partly funded by federal dollars, and those serving Coloradans like our veterans, the disabled, and children.

There is nothing left in Colorado’s budget to make up for Medicaid cuts, so unless we can stop them, the state budget is going to be much, much worse next year. And that would have dire implications for all of us.

So over the next few days and weeks, you’ll be hearing from us about how you, as state workers, will be impacted by Medicaid cuts, and what we can all do to stop them. That means asking Colorado Members of Congress–Gabe Evans, Jeff Hurd, Jeff Crank, and Lauren Boebert–to protect Coloradans by stopping any federal Medicaid cuts.