Gov. Jared Polis, with the acquiescence of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet who is the presumptive Democratic frontrunner for governor in 2026, is proposing deep Medicaid cuts that will hurt Colorado’s most vulnerable families and endanger the state’s entire health care system.

Meanwhile, Polis and Bennet rail against Medicaid reforms at the federal level that would require able-bodied adults who are on Medicaid to work, that would remove illegal immigrants from Medicaid, and that would remove Medicaid recipients who are enrolled in more than one state.

While Polis and Bennet wail about these federal reforms, Polis, with the tacit support of Bennet, is undercutting the ability of families caring for adult children with disabilities.  Polis endangers health care providers across the state by cutting Medicaid reimbursement rates that will imperil their ability to treat all patients.

Bennet loyalists will probably cry foul at any reference to “Polis-Bennet Medicaid cuts.”  They will probably contend that Bennet is a U.S. Senator and not involved in the state budget debate.  And that is precisely the point.

Bennet announced his candidacy months ago and since then has run one of the most vapid, shallow statewide campaigns Colorado has seen since U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper refused to debate his opponents and campaigned from his basement in 2020.  

Other than daily proclaiming his hatred of Trump, Bennet has offered virtually no specifics on what he would do as governor other than he will unilaterally handpick his successor to the Senate if he is elected governor.

There is no more prominent and consequential state issue than Medicaid, which accounts for more than a third of the entire state budget.  How can someone who wants to be governor of Colorado apparently have no discernible position on Medicaid other than silently allowing Polis to hurt vulnerable recipients?

Whether Bennet likes it or not, Democrats have controlled the governorship for the past 19 years, including seven under Polis.  If Medicaid spending is “not sustainable” as Polis contends, then he and his predecessors, including the other U.S. senator from Colorado, John Hickenlooper, created this situation.

Bennet is one of three Democrats who hold major statewide office.  He is inextricably tied to the overall Democratic regime that has totally controlled this state at every level since 2018.  He cannot shirk his own culpability for the condition Colorado finds itself in today where a clear majority think the state is on the “wrong track.”

If Bennet cannot summon the fortitude to take a position on these Medicaid cuts, would he cower in the governor’s office on every tough issue?

Polis claims that Medicaid spending is out of control at the expense of other state priorities. 

“We think highways and roads are important.  We think public safety is important.  We think agriculture is important,” Polis said.  

Really?

Polis and his compliant Democratic legislative majorities seem to prioritize bike lanes over repairing deteriorating roads and they brag about moving away from highways.  Polis and the Democrats presided over an unprecedented increase in crime, homelessness and illegal drug abuse due to their soft-on-crime policies that coddle criminals.

And support for agriculture?  Rural Colorado has been under assault for the past eight years as Polis and the agriculture-hating First Gentleman have imposed wolves on ranches and rural communities while telling people not to eat beef.

Thank heaven Medicaid spending has apparently kept Polis from doing even more damage to “highways and roads, public safety and agriculture” which he claims are so important to him. 

As Polis mercifully enters into the final year of his two-terms of wreckage, Democratic frontrunner Bennet offers more of the same failed legacy of Polis and total Democratic control of Colorado.

Dick Wadhams is a former Colorado Republican state chairman who managed campaigns for U.S. Sens. Hank Brown and Wayne Allard, and Gov. Bill Owens.  He was campaign manager for U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota in 2004 when Thune unseated Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle.