WATCH: Hickenlooper Slams MAGA Republican Health Care Crisis, Government Shutdown

Hickenlooper: "MAGA Republicans shut down the government because they refuse to address the health care crisis that they've created"

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper spoke on the Senate floor to condemn the health care crisis Republicans caused when they passed their budget bill, which will strip 15 million Americans of their health care and force health care premiums to double in 2026. Hickenlooper called on Republicans to end their government shutdown and negotiate a funding bill that lowers costs, extends the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits, and restores Medicaid funding.

"For the first time in 6 years, the government is shut down.

"We're here for one reason: MAGA Republicans shut down the government because they refuse to address the health care crisis that they've created."

Hickenlooper was one of the first senators to announce he'd oppose the Republican government funding bill unless they worked with Democrats to lower health care costs, support rural hospitals, and end Trump's tariffs.

"Americans elected a President because he PROMISED to fight for the people who slip through the cracks," Hickenlooper said on the Senate floor."But he's turning the very ground they stand on into quicksand."

Earlier this year, Republicans passed a budget bill that guts $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. 15 million Americans, including 241,000 Coloradans are expected to lose their health care under Trump's bill. Next year, health insurance premiums across the country are expected to double unless Republicans agree to extend the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits. In September, Hickenlooper visited a nursing home in Lakewood, Colorado to speak with residents who will be impacted by the extreme Medicaid cuts:

"One resident told me, point blank, that Medicaid saved his life. He said that he would still be living on the streets without it because the cost of his epilepsy medication was far too high.

"His health care, his medication, the roof over his head, are now under threat with these cuts coming to Medicaid."

Hickenlooper has repeatedly voted against Republican's government funding bill, which fails to lower costs, reverse Republicans' cuts to Medicaid, and extend the ACA's premium tax credits. To download a full video of Hickenlooper's remarks, click HERE. A full transcript of his remarks is available below:

"Mr. President,

"This really is a turning point for our country. And a turning point in our fight to make health care more accessible for ALL Americans.

"For the first time in six years, the government is shut down.

"Certainly nobody wanted to get to this point, including me.

"But we're here for one reason, because MAGA Republicans shut down the government because they refuse to address the health care crisis that they've created.

"Earlier this summer, the administration passed their - what we call the - 'Big Bad Betrayal Act' - as we call it. At a time when Americans are begging for financial relief, they were faced with the loss of health care for 15 million people.

"That's right. MAGA Republicans have gutted more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act - health care that literally millions of Americans rely on.

"And we're not just talking years in the future. It starts this month.

"At the end of this year, the Affordable Care Act's tax credits will expire unless Republicans act now to extend them.

"If they don't, and they are clearly divided on this issue, premiums across the country - on average - are going to double starting next year. As a little perspective, that means many Coloradans will pay over $1,000 more for health care in 2026 than they did in 2025.

"Now insurance companies are just starting to notify Americans about these massive cost increases. I mean, you talk about a kick in the gut.

"When I was governor, we expanded health care to 400,000 Coloradans with help from the ACA tax credits - we got to 96% coverage for Coloradans to have health care. MAGA Republicans want to undo that progress, and we shouldn't let that happen.

"It doesn't end there! The budget bill is the centerpiece of a much broader campaign to strip health care coverage away from millions and millions of Americans.

"The moment the president took office, MAGA Republicans essentially handed him and Secretary Kennedy a free pass to attempt to dismantle our public health care system and to destroy much of the science-backed public health policy.

"Now what exactly did they do?

"Well, the President and RFK Jr. fired every single member of the CDC's independent panel on vaccines and replaced them with vaccine skeptics - people that really didn't believe too much in the value of vaccines. Then, when the President's own CDC director voiced her opposition, they fired her too.

"Now that puppet panel completely changed the COVID vaccine recommendation for Americans. Now folks across the country are struggling to figure out whether they can get a vaccine at the pharmacy and what it's going to cost.

"The President's first administration oversaw 'Operation Warp Speed,' which developed the first COVID vaccines in what was almost a miraculously rapid time frame. But now he's actively undermining that same science! It's astounding.

"Reproductive health care? They're gutting that too.

"Again, back when I was governor in Colorado, we made free & low-cost birth control accessible to every Coloradan. We reduced unwanted pregnancies by almost 60%.

"Now, this administration is doing everything they can to eliminate the last remaining abortion protections. They're threatening access to Mifepristone - a medication that's been proven safe and effective for nearly 30 years.

"On top of that - they've completely given up on things like fighting cancer - slashing hundreds of millions of dollars in cancer-related research grants.

"That's right, you heard me clearly: CANCER. Now we can't even agree that cancer is worth beating?

"And if that wasn't enough, the White House actually reached out, publicized…the President told pregnant women not to trust their doctors, but that they could feel assured that taking Tylenol while you're pregnant would cause autism. They did this without any scientific proof.

"It's hard to believe that they were telling pregnant women that Tylenol was going to cause autism.

"It's, in many ways, one large diabolical fear tactic. And it puts the health of so many Americans at risk.

"And we can't let it continue. Which brings us to this showdown.

"We're asking for this administration to negotiate and take basic action to restore health care to Americans.

"MAGA Republicans, I think they should be thanking us for giving them an off-ramp to undo the horrendous cuts that're going to ruin real people's lives, it will cost people their lives.

"So far, they don't seem to be listening.

"But here's what's at stake if we don't hold our ground:

"I recently, a couple weeks ago, visited a nursing home in Lakewood, Colorado.

"Now, many Americans don't know this, but Medicaid covers the cost of roughly 60% of residents in nursing homes across the country. At the facility I visited in Lakewood, over 90% of the residents are there because of Medicaid.

"I sat in a circle surrounded by residents - some with disabilities - and their caregivers, all trying to understand what these cuts meant for their health, for their lives.

"One resident told me point blank that Medicaid saved his life. He said that he would still be living on the streets without it because the cost of his epilepsy medication was far too high.

"His health care, his medication, the roof over his head, is now under threat with these cuts coming to Medicaid.

"This is a very sobering truth.

"If you're a single adult in Colorado, you don't even qualify for Medicaid, you'll be making too much to qualify for Medicaid, if you earn more than $1,735 a month. That is $10 an hour. If you make more than $10 an hour, you don't qualify for Medicaid.

"So, you've got to be working. You've got to be making less than $10 an hour. Pretty easy to verify and creating the red tape and bureaucracy to get at these mythical cases of abuse, it defies rational thought.

"The President's 'Big Ugly Bill' doesn't just put a $1 trillion hole in health care, but it creates mountains of paperwork and endless reams of red tape. It creates challenges [that] people with disabilities and people making $10 an hour are going to have a real hard time navigating.

"And if they fill out a form incorrectly, or they don't turn it in on time, they get something wrong, they'll get kicked right off health care. It's immoral. It's inhumane.

"This is what Medicaid is for - to make sure Americans get the care they need to stay alive. To keep shelter over their heads when they need around the clock care.

"All of it's under threat.

"Take one look on social media and you'll see why the White House and MAGA are trying to make this into one big joke. It's a carnival of jokes.

"But they can't avoid the suffering and the fear that their actions are causing.

"Americans elected a president because he PROMISED to fight for the people who slip through the cracks.

"But he's turning the very ground they stand on into quicksand.

"MAGA Republicans have passed a bill to take health care from 15 million Americans. Americans with cancer, sick kids, people living in nursing homes!

"With the money they saved, they gave trillion-dollar tax breaks, in many cases, to the wealthiest of Americans and to the largest of corporations.

"Now, hundreds of rural hospitals and clinics are at risk of closure, millions of Americans are going to be uninsured. Many of them have preexisting conditions which will make getting insurance again nearly impossible. And they're going to be faced with health care premiums that will be doubling. And that's for literally millions of Americans.

"Now we're not talking decades in the future. We're talking about next month when these premiums go up.

"By November 1st, Coloradans on the marketplace plans that they get from the health care exchange, they'll be getting the terrifying alert from the insurance company that their premiums are about to increase.

"What we're being told is that some Colorado families are going to see price tags $1,000 higher than what their normal payments were.

"Democrats are fighting for one thing: to protect the essential care that millions of Americans rely on every single day.

"It's about making sure that moms and dads, little kids, grandparents, newborn babies don't fall through the trillion-dollar hole that MAGA has created in our health care system.

"Let's work together, let's reopen the government AND protect the health care for the people of this country.

"We'll be waiting and ready at the negotiating table.

"Thank you, Mr. President, I yield back the floor."

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