Colorado cuts health subsidies for illegal immigrants with lottery system deciding who keeps coverage
By Mateo Schimpf | CPR News
On Nov. 17, phones started lighting up at a first-floor office in north Denver.
Hundreds of people wanted to know whether they had won the lottery, and if not, if they had other options.
The callers were not looking for the winning Powerball combination. They wanted to know whether they would be able to afford health insurance next year.
The days leading up to Nov. 17 were excruciating for Blanca, who’s 52 and a single mother, and whose last name we’re not using because of concerns she could be targeted by federal law enforcement due to her immigration status.
She’s among 12,000 undocumented Coloradans who received subsidies from the state to get free health insurance through the OmniSalud program in 2025. But she had to wait to see if she w...


![FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B[1]](https://rockymountainvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B1-300x300.png)