As president of the Colorado Black Women for Political Action (CBWPA), I was relieved to see Colorado lawmakers take a thoughtful pause to reconsider HB 25-1174 — a bill that, though intended to address health care costs, could have unintentionally deepened disparities in care for the very communities we serve.

At CBWPA, we work alongside immigrant, refugee and low-income communities throughout Colorado — many of whom already face complex barriers to accessing quality health care. Whether it’s Black immigrant families navigating language and cultural gaps, women of color managing high-risk pregnancies, or newly uninsured individuals caught in the Medicaid disenrollment wave, the people we strive to build a better future for depend on a stable and responsive hospital system to meet their needs. Unfortunately, new research finds HB 25-1174 could have created more instability in our state’s health care system at a time when we are already grappling with the uncertainty of potential Medicaid cuts and the end of premium subsidies by creating $812 million in revenue losses for Colorado hospitals.

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I want to acknowledge and thank the lawmakers who stood up for patients and communities by opposing this bill — including state Reps. Shannon Bird and Robert Marshall, and Sens. Kyle Mullica and Tony Exum. Their leadership helped ensure HB 25-1174 did not move forward without a deeper understanding of its potential harm.

Unfortunately, HB 25-1174 was advanced without meaningful input from the communities it would most impact. A top-down price cap approach, using Medicare benchmarks known to underpay providers, risked pushing already-strained hospitals — both urban and rural — to cut services or close critical care programs. That would have disproportionately harmed patients in historically underserved communities, rural areas, and communities of color.

Colorado’s health care challenges are complex. Our hospitals are facing rising costs while serving a growing uninsured population. The expiration of pandemic-era Medicaid protections left hundreds of thousands of Coloradans in coverage limbo, with no robust state plan to help them re-enroll or find affordable alternatives. At the same time, many community-based organizations like CBWPA are working tirelessly to bridge these gaps — but we need hospitals to remain strong partners in this work.

Legislation like HB 25-1174, though well-intentioned, does not address these root causes. What Colorado needs instead is an equity-driven, community-informed approach:

• Invest in outreach to help families maintain or regain coverage.
• Strengthen hospital-community partnerships to expand culturally and linguistically appropriate care.
• Stabilize the health care safety net to ensure access for all, regardless of income or immigration status.
• Create transparent, inclusive processes for healthcare reform that center the voices of those most affected.

Health care reform cannot succeed if it is developed in silos or without the input of diverse communities. I applaud the lawmakers who recognized this and took a stand against HB 25-1174. Moving forward, CBWPA stands ready to work with partners across the state to build solutions that truly advance health equity for all Coloradans.

Bianka Emerson is president of Colorado  Black Women for Political Action.