![\"Blanca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/251120-VUELA-FOR-HEALTH-INSURANCE-IMMIGRATION-BLANCA-WESTMINSTER-KEVINJBEATY-08.jpg\"\/)
Kevin J. Beaty\/DenveriteBlanca sits at the kitchen table in her Westminster home. Nov. 20, 2025.<\/p>\nOn Nov. 17, phones started lighting up at a first-floor office in north Denver.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people wanted to know whether they had won the lottery, and if not, if they had other options.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The days leading up to Nov. 17 were excruciating for Blanca, who\u2019s 52 and a single mother, and whose last name we\u2019re not using because of concerns she could be targeted by federal law enforcement due to her immigration status.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She\u2019s 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 would be selected again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be keeping an eye on my phone, but I know that when I open it, it will be very good news,\u201d Blanca said in an interview in Spanish. \u201cI have that confidence and faith that God knows who needs it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin J. Beaty\/DenveriteBlanca sits at the kitchen table in her Westminster home. Nov. 20, 2025.<\/p>\n
OmniSalud covers people on DACA and without documentation whose immigration status makes them ineligible for federal programs like Medicaid. To qualify for OmniSalud\u2019s zero-cost premium, individuals must make less than 150% of the Federal Poverty Level, which is about $23,000 per person.<\/p>\n
The decision to reduce tax credits on health care exchanges as part of this summer\u2019s federal tax and spending bill, H.R. 1, also called the Big Beautiful Bill<\/a>, means that OmniSalud will be able to offer fully subsidized insurance to a little more than half as many people in 2026. That\u2019s according to Vuela for Health, an organization that does healthcare and education outreach for the local Latino community and has connected a portion of eligible residents to OmniSalud.<\/p>\n More than 5,000 undocumented immigrants who had previously received subsidies will have to pay full price for health insurance starting in January \u2013 a cost that Blanca said she simply can\u2019t afford.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have much work right now because of everything that\u2019s going on with \u2013 well, not just me. Everyone, right? In this country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n This month, the OmniSalud Lottery used a random selection process to determine who would get coverage in 2026. If pulling winners and losers out of a hat seems cruel, it\u2019s because there may not have been a better option.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if this is the most fair, but I don\u2019t know what else can be possible,\u201d said Diana Pineda, the founder and executive director of Vuela. \u201cIt\u2019s like, how can we decide who needs it and who doesn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n Pineda said her clients are scared because they have no control over what happens.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s only waiting to see what is the result,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Colorado created OmniSalud a few years ago with the hope that it would help people get preventative care and treatment that they had been foregoing, and bring down costs for everyone by reducing uncompensated care at hospitals in the state and creating a bigger pool of insured people.<\/p>\n Colorado got a waiver from Medicaid to allow it by showing that OmniSalud would broadly reduce health insurance costs for residents.<\/p>\n The program has grown incrementally each year. In 2023, OmniSalud enrolled 10,000 people with zero-cost premiums. In 2024, it expanded to 11,000. All of the available spots were claimed<\/a> in just a couple of days after they became available, showing the large demand. This year, it expanded to 12,000 slots.<\/p>\n The Big Beautiful Bill will halt that growth. It\u2019s one of the law\u2019s cascading effects on Colorado\u2019s healthcare ecosystem, and fulfills a Republican promise to reduce the taxpayer money spent to provide health insurance to immigrants.<\/p>\n In a press release last week<\/a>, for example, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said President Trump is delivering lower taxes and has a renewed commitment to putting American citizens first. Meanwhile, the release stated, Democrats are making life unaffordable while pouring billions into health benefits for \u201cillegal aliens.\u201d<\/p>\n And just days after the Big Beautiful Bill passed, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced it would further restrict immigrants from accessing federal benefits. HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. said<\/a> that, \u201cFor too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans\u2019 tax dollars to incentivise illegal immigration.\u201d <\/p>\n The value of health insurance<\/p>\n Less than a week before the lottery announcement, Blanca filed into a mostly empty conference room at the Vuela office and sat down next to Carolina, 63, another OmniSalud participant whose last name we\u2019re also not using because of her undocumented status. In Spanish, she talked about what it would be like if her health insurance subsidy did not get renewed.<\/p>\n \u201cYou worry, and maybe you get worse than you are, (not) knowing where you\u2019re going to be paying from,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can\u2019t work the same when you\u2019re sick. And if you can\u2019t work anymore, then how are you going to be able to pay or keep paying for something?\u201d<\/p>\n Blanca and Carolina each came to Colorado from Mexico more than two decades ago, Blanca from San Luis Potos\u00ed and Carolina from Aguascalientes. They had kids and have worked: Blanca at a Wendy\u2019s for a while, then selling produce, and now at a bakery. Carolina cleaned houses.\u00a0<\/p>\n For most of their lives in the U.S., health insurance was out of reach. Blanca and Carolina got care through community clinics, but those were only for the basics.\u00a0<\/p>\n Carolina said OmniSalud\u2019s coverage may have saved her life.<\/p>\n \u201cThey sent me to get a mammogram, and I didn\u2019t even know where to go because they charged for it. And then I started using the insurance, and that\u2019s when they discovered I had cancer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Carolina said without OmniSalud, it would have been impossible to pay for a mammogram and biopsy, not to mention the mastectomy and radiation treatment she got, and the medication she\u2019s still taking.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Blanca said she dealt with massive headaches and high blood pressure after falling out of a chair a few years ago. A community clinic treated her for brain inflammation, but her symptoms wouldn\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n After getting coverage through OmniSalud, Blanca underwent a series of X-rays and scans. The doctors told her she was still suffering from a head injury.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel very secure with this program because I\u2019m a single mother. And so that has helped me a lot because I honestly wouldn\u2019t have been able to pay,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Blanca\u2019s and Carolina\u2019s stories are signs that the OmniSalud program works, according to Pineda. It helps keep people on their feet, holding down jobs, and paying taxes. Undocumented immigrants in Colorado contribute<\/a> hundreds of millions of dollars a year in state and local taxes.<\/p>\n Winners and losers<\/p>\n Vuela\u2019s staff was nervous last Monday, when the lottery results were supposed to come in.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a bit overwhelmed with calls, trying to help everyone we can. We hope people understand,\u201d said Veronica, whose last name we\u2019re not using because of her immigration status. Vuela removed from its website the names and photos of all its staff members over concerns they could be targeted by individuals or federal law enforcement.<\/p>\n Veronica is a promotora, a liaison between health services and the Latino community.<\/p>\n Last week, she fielded calls from people who were selected for continued subsidies and needed help choosing their health insurance plans. She also got calls from people who lost the lottery and wondered what they could do next.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve been doing this for three years now. You get to know people because there are people who are fortunate enough to have had insurance for three years,\u201d she said. \u201cSometimes we think that people who sign up don’t really need it, but there are truly many people in need who don’t have the resources and depend on treatment to keep living.\u201d<\/p>\n Vuela for Health connected nearly 900 undocumented immigrants to the OmniSalud program in 2025. By the end of lottery day, they still had not received the final list of recipients from the state, which extended the feeling of dread for Veronica.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s very hard because people come and talk to you. You know what’s happening, and not being able to do anything is very difficult,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The next day in the office, Veronica called Blanca, who had already received a message directly from the state.<\/p>\n \u201cI got a message saying I didn’t qualify, and yes, I got sad,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But her sister, who Blanca said was recently diagnosed with cancer, did get selected.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think there was a change of fate, and it said, \u2018I’ll take it from you, but your sister needs it more,\u2019 and I was very happy about that,\u201d Blanca said.<\/p>\n Now she\u2019ll be able to afford treatment next year, Blanca said.<\/p>\n She is optimistic about her own chances for 2026. She feels like this year\u2019s rejection is all part of God\u2019s plan, and she is happy for all the people who were able to extend their subsidized coverage past January 1.<\/p>\n That includes Carolina, who drew a winning ticket.<\/p>\n The final tally<\/p>\n Pineda got the state\u2019s list on November 19, two days after the lottery was announced. Of all the immigrants who Vuela helped connect with OmniSalud coverage last year, 782 were winners and 91 will lose their subsidized coverage.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a somewhat miraculous outcome, statistically speaking. Each person vying for free OmniSalud coverage next year had a roughly 55% chance of being selected. In Vuela\u2019s pool, the success rate was nearly 90%.<\/p>\n Pineda said that most of the people who come to Vuela looking for healthcare coverage have been in the U.S. for more than five years. They often work in jobs that come with health risks, like construction, farming, and washing windows.\u00a0<\/p>\n For them, OmniSalud was a lifeline. But the lottery means thousands of people will spend the next year trying not to get sick, and wondering what will happen when they do.<\/p>\n Correction: \u00a0A line has been removed from this story to clarify that no funding from the federal government gets passed through to\u00a0directly\u00a0help fund OmniSalud.<\/p>\n This story is part of a collection tracking the impacts of President Donald Trump\u2019s second administration on the lives of everyday Coloradans. Since taking office, Trump has overhauled nearly every aspect of the federal government; journalists from CPR News, KRCC and Denverite are staying on top of what that means for you. Read more here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Nov. 17, phones started lighting up at a first-floor office in north Denver. Hundreds of people wanted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[9045,12,97,12588,252,253,21288,790,9042,28937,161086,968,3479],"class_list":["post-312275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-colorado-news","tag-donald-trump","tag-health","tag-health-and-wellness-industry","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-immigrants","tag-immigration","tag-insurance","tag-insurance-premiums","tag-insurance-prices","tag-president-trump","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/251118-VUELA-FOR-HEALTH-INSURANCE-IMMIGRATION-COLE-KEVINJBEATY-26.jpg\"\/)
Kevin J. Beaty\/DenveriteVuela for Health executive director Diana Pineda (left) works with Cindy Liverance, the nonprofit’s head of operations, in their headquarters in Denver’s Cole neighborhood. Nov. 18, 2025.The origins of OmniSalud<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/251118-VUELA-FOR-HEALTH-INSURANCE-IMMIGRATION-COLE-KEVINJBEATY-18.jpg\"\/)
Kevin J. Beaty\/DenveriteVuela for Health navigator Stephanie Plata calls a client as the nonprofit contacts people who recently lost insurance coverage. Nov. 18, 2025.<\/p>\n![\"Blanca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/251120-VUELA-FOR-HEALTH-INSURANCE-IMMIGRATION-BLANCA-WESTMINSTER-KEVINJBEATY-06.jpg\"\/)
Kevin J. Beaty\/DenveriteBlanca sits at the kitchen table in her Westminster home. Nov. 20, 2025.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/251118-VUELA-FOR-HEALTH-INSURANCE-IMMIGRATION-COLE-KEVINJBEATY-06.jpg\"\/)
Kevin J. Beaty\/DenveriteVeronica, a navigator with Vuela for Health, helps a client who recently lost insurance coverage at the nonprofit’s headquarters in Denver’s Cole neighborhood. Nov. 18, 2025.<\/p>\n![\"Religious](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/251120-VUELA-FOR-HEALTH-INSURANCE-IMMIGRATION-BLANCA-WESTMINSTER-KEVINJBEATY-05.jpg\"\/)
Kevin J. Beaty\/DenveriteReligious figurines cover a table in Blanca’s Westminster home. Nov. 20, 2025.<\/p>\n![\"Blanca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/251120-VUELA-FOR-HEALTH-INSURANCE-IMMIGRATION-BLANCA-WESTMINSTER-KEVINJBEATY-03.jpg\"\/)
Kevin J. Beaty\/DenveriteBlanca stands at the door of her Westminster home. Nov. 20, 2025.<\/p>\n