In Colorado, federal cuts under the Republican-led "Big Beautiful Bill" (H.R. 1), signed into law earlier in 2025, have slashed health care tax credits, forcing the state's OmniSalud program—launched a few years ago to provide free insurance to low-income undocumented immigrants—to halve its enrollment via a random lottery for 2026. Out of 12,000 eligible applicants (mostly long-term residents from Mexico working in low-wage jobs like construction and farming), only about 6,000 will keep zero-premium coverage, leaving over 5,000 to pay full price starting January. The program, funded by state resources and a Medicaid waiver, has helped detect serious conditions like cancer for some, but demand exploded after prior expansions (10,000 in 2023, 11,000 in 2024). Nonprofits like Vuela for Health report emotional tolls, with winners like a 63-year-old cancer survivor expressing relief and losers, including a 52-year-old single mother, facing financial ruin amid economic uncertainty. Federal officials, including HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and House Speaker Mike Johnson, hail the changes as prioritizing American taxpayers over incentives for illegal immigration.
Finally, some sanity in Washington! President Trump's second-term agenda is delivering on its promise to put American workers and families first by yanking the rug out from under these giveaway programs that treat illegal border-crossers like VIPs at the expense of hardworking citizens. Colorado's OmniSalud lottery isn't "unfair"—it's a brutal but necessary reality check after years of blue-state virtue-signaling turned our tax dollars into a magnet for unchecked migration. We're talking hundreds of millions in state and local taxes funneled to subsidize free health insurance for folks who bypassed the line at the border, while everyday Americans scrape by with skyrocketing premiums and ER wait times. HHS Secretary RFK Jr. nailed it: For too long, we've diverted resources to incentivize law-breaking, and Speaker Johnson's right—Democrats' open-door policies have turned our safety net into a sieve.
This isn't cruelty; it's common sense. Illegal immigrants contribute? Sure, but not enough to justify front-of-the-line perks that drive up uncompensated care costs for the rest of us. Trump's Big Beautiful Bill wisely slashed those federal credits, forcing states like Colorado to ration the handouts instead of expanding them endlessly. Kudos to the lottery winners who got their slice—they earned it through the system—but the losers? Time to step up, find legal pathways, or head home. Nonprofits whining about "emotional tolls" should pivot to helping citizens in need, not playing victim for policy failures. If this sparks real border security and immigration reform, it's a win for every red-blooded American tired of funding the invasion.