‘Cover All Coloradans’ was estimated to cost taxpayers $14.7 million but has ballooned to $104.5 million amid a $1.5 billion state budget shortfall
A Colorado program launched in 2025 to provide taxpayer-funded health care to illegal immigrant “pregnant persons” and children is costing seven times more than expected. The program, which was estimated to cost less than $15 million but has ballooned in costs to nearly $105 million this fiscal year, has emerged as a sore spot as the state grapples with a $1.5 billion budget shortfall that could lead to deep cuts to Medicaid and other programs for citizens.
Two of the Democrats who supported the program in the Colorado legislature are now seeking a promotion to the House of Representatives.
Democratic lawmakers, including former state representative Shannon Bird, one of the candidates vying to represent Colorado’s Eighth Congressional District, passed a law in 2022 to create the Cover All Coloradans program. It provides state-funded health care for “pregnant persons” and children who would qualify for Medicaid if they weren’t illegal immigrants. Fiscal analysts estimated at the time that the program would draw 3,700 enrollees at a cost of $14.7 million to the state.
But the illegal immigrant population in Colorado spiked as the law passed, rising from 160,000 in 2021 to more than 200,000 in 2025, according to the Pew Research Center. Costs for the Cover All Coloradans program increased sixfold to $104.5 million to Colorado taxpayers after 28,000 immigrants enrolled in the program when it launched in 2025, the Colorado Sun reported.
The program—a direct response in blue Colorado to the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration—was funded by the 2025 statewide appropriations bill, a measure supported by Bird and her top Democratic challenger for the congressional seat, state representative Manny Rutinel, who joined the state legislature in 2023.
The rising cost of the program comes at an inopportune time for Democrats in Denver. The Colorado constitution requires lawmakers pass a balanced budget every year, and on Tuesday, the Colorado Joint Budget Committee voted to institute a 2 percent cut to Medicaid health care providers in a move expected to save the state $95 million.
The committee did not approve immediate cuts to the Cover All Coloradans program. Instead, it voted to place a hard cap on enrollments if costs surpass $96 million next year, according to the Sun. That figure is more than six times the original cost estimate for the program.
The committee’s budget still has to be approved by the Colorado state House and Senate before it’s sent to Gov. Jared Polis (D.). Lawmakers have also considered deep cuts to a Medicaid family caregiver initiative and after school programs for public school children.
As their Democratic colleagues in the Colorado legislature bemoan the “devastating” budget outlook for the state, Rutinel and Bird are leading a crowded field of Democrats for the Eighth Congressional District, a swing seat currently held by Republican incumbent Gabe Evans, who won his 2024 election by fewer than 2,500 votes.
Colorado’s Democratic House speaker Julie McCluskie, the lead sponsor of the Cover All Coloradans program in 2022, said there have been “unanticipated impacts” to the illegal immigrant health care program since its launch last year.
“At the time we made budget decisions — whether it was during the pandemic, following the pandemic — we made those decisions based on the forecasts in front of us,” McCluskie told the Sun.
Rutinel and Bird did not return requests for comment.
Colorado has emerged as a leading opponent of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. The City of Denver has refused to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, leading the Justice Department to classify Denver as a “sanctuary jurisdiction,” though left-wing mayor Mike Johnston rejects the word “sanctuary” as it suggests illegal immigrants have broken the law. Denver’s public schools are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to educate illegal immigrant children.
Rutinel is the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for the eighth district during the upcoming primary in June. He reported in late February raising over $3 million for his campaign and he’s secured endorsements from leading Democrats, including Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Bird, who resigned from the Colorado legislature in December to focus on her congressional bid, has raised $1.2 million for her campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records.