Colorado’s Joe Neguse Tours Facility in Avon to Discuss Impacts of Federal Funding Cuts on Rural Health Care Providers

Medicaid Cuts Will Further Strain Rural Health Care

Rep. Joe Neguse visited Mountain Family Health Centers’ Avon clinic on Wednesday to discuss the devastating impact of federal healthcare funding cuts on rural communities. Neguse warned that the budget reconciliation bill signed by President Trump will create “disastrous” consequences for rural healthcare access, particularly through Medicaid cuts that include spending reductions, new work requirements, and more frequent eligibility checks.

Mountain Family Health Centers, which serves 20,000 patients across five clinics regardless of ability to pay, faces significant challenges with 42% of Avon clinic visits and 52% of Gypsum visits coming from uninsured patients. Vail Health CEO Will Cook emphasized the critical role these community health centers play, stating that they provide “upstream preventative care” that keeps patients out of “the most expensive, least effective area of care, which is the emergency department.” Cook warned that if community health centers fail, “people won’t have access to primary care or the dental care or the mental health behavioral health,” causing problems to “fester” and eventually appear in emergency departments.

Vail Health, which has a much lower number of patients enrolled in Medicaid — around 5% to 6% of physical health outpatient visits, though the number is rising — will also be impacted by the cuts. About half the patients treated at Vail Health’s recently opened inpatient behavioral health treatment facility, the Precourt Healing Center, are on Medicaid.

Premium Tax Credit Cuts Will Increase the Uninsured Population if Not Prevented

The expiration of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits at year’s end poses another major threat, particularly in Eagle County, where insurance premiums are among the state’s highest. State Sen. Dylan Roberts noted that “a family of four in Eagle County could be facing increased costs of tens of thousands of dollars,” forcing families to either go without insurance or leave the area entirely. Neguse identified protecting these tax credits as a top priority, warning that without renewal, “the individual marketplace in areas like Eagle effectively collapses.”

Facing these mounting challenges, Vail Health and Mountain Family Health Centers are strengthening their partnership to navigate the crisis. Cook stressed the importance of collaboration, saying “We’re only as strong as all of our nonprofit organizations in the valley” and that organizations must “lean in and lock arms and figure out how do we help one another get through this, sharing the resources.”

Eagle County Commissioner Matt Scherr pledged local support through storytelling efforts to convince politicians to protect healthcare coverage, while Neguse committed to fighting for the existing system while working toward a better future model.

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