Colorado's Medicaid program counted 27,256 adults with a diagnosed opioid use disorder in 2021, and 22,716 of them were covered through the expansion; their coverage will hinge, from "no later than January 1, 2027," on a work requirement written into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a law that got Lauren Boebert's vote on July 3, 2025, after her yea pushed its House version through by a single vote. The law exempts someone with a substance use disorder or "a disabling mental disorder," and an enrollee who fits no exemption must log the hours.
Coloradans taking medication for opioid addiction through Medicaid, 14,541 in 2021 and mostly expansion enrollees, were also reached by Boebert's decisive February and April 2025 budget votes, which set an $880 billion target for the Medicaid committee. KFF warns that the fiscal pressure on states may make their gains in behavioral health coverage harder to hold onto.
Lauren Boebert's Votes on Medicaid Coverage for Coloradans in Mental Health and Addiction Care
- Coloradans With Mental Illness the State Does Not Count as Disabling Face Medicaid Hour Logs Under the Law Boebert Voted For. On July 3, 2025, Lauren Boebert's yea joined the 218 that enacted the final One Big Beautiful Bill Act over 214 nays, six weeks after she helped pass the House version 215 to 214. Its work requirement carves out anyone "with a disabling mental disorder" and anyone who has a substance use disorder. In Colorado, which adopted the expansion, the rule falls on expansion Medicaid, which KFF calls "the primary coverage pathway for people with mental health or substance use disorders." Because the exemption reaches only "disabling" mental disorders, people whose illness the state does not judge disabling, and who fit no other exemption, must document hours; in the Commonwealth Fund's assessment, many of the people dropped will be ones who "will remain eligible for Medicaid but who did not successfully complete the paperwork."
- Coloradans Getting Opioid Treatment Through Medicaid Face a Budget Squeeze From the Plan Boebert's Votes Decided. The House adopted H.Con.Res. 14 by 217 yeas to 215 nays on February 25, 2025 and its Senate version by 216 to 214 on April 10, 2025; each time Boebert's yea was decisive, since a switch by her alone would have meant a tie, and a tie fails. Its order to the Medicaid committee was to "reduce the deficit by not less than $880,000,000,000." KFF cautions that "a more tenuous fiscal climate for states may make those gains harder to sustain," referring to the behavioral health care states have built up through Medicaid; nationally, Medicaid pays for "over half (56%) of those receiving medication" for opioid use disorder.
What Lauren Boebert's Medicaid Votes Mean for Coloradans in Recovery
- 22,716 Coloradans with opioid use disorder hold the expansion coverage that gets a work test by 2027. KFF's 2021 data put 83% of Colorado's Medicaid adults with a diagnosed opioid use disorder, 22,716 people, in the expansion group. A gap in coverage for someone in recovery can cut off the counseling and prescriptions that keep that recovery on track.
- 12,359 Coloradans on addiction medication got it through the expansion group. In 2021, 14,541 Colorado Medicaid adults received medication to treat opioid use disorder, and 12,359 of them, 85%, were expansion enrollees, KFF reports. If a missed work report ends their Medicaid, the coverage paying for that medication ends with it.
Frequently Asked Questions About Lauren Boebert on Mental health and addiction
What is Lauren Boebert's record on mental health and addiction under Trump?
Lauren Boebert voted on July 3, 2025 for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, after casting a decisive yea for its House version that May, and its work requirement will apply from January 1, 2027 at the latest to the expansion coverage held by most Colorado Medicaid adults living with opioid use disorder. Her decisive 2025 budget votes set the Medicaid committee's savings target behind it. People in treatment who fit no exemption will have to report hours.
Who on the eastern plains falls under the Medicaid work rule Lauren Boebert voted for, including people in treatment?
In Colorado's 4th District, the work rule in the law Lauren Boebert voted for applies to the 31,700 adults enrolled through the Medicaid expansion, KFF's 2025 count shows. The law exempts someone among them "with a substance use disorder," and separately someone in a drug or alcohol treatment and rehabilitation program; those who fit no exemption must document the hours.
What does Lauren Boebert's vote mean for Coloradans leaving jail who struggle with addiction?
The law Lauren Boebert voted for exempts Coloradans released from jail or prison from the Medicaid work rule only for the three months after they leave. A 2018 study cited by MindSite News found that people coming out of prison were 11 times as likely as the general population to die of an overdose "over the course of a year," so losing Medicaid after that window can cut off treatment at a dangerous time.
Last updated: 2026-10-27