2 weeks Ago By The Gazette editorial board
Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway has crossed a line that no public servant should dare approach. His recent threat to shift health insurance funds to cover illegal immigrants — at the expense of hardworking Coloradans — is an affront to every law-abiding, hard-working Colorado resident who struggles to make ends meet. Conway’s traitorous proposal, which could spike premiums for Western Slope families by an average of $13,000 annually, is the latest in a string of left-wing policies that prioritize illegal immigrants over law-abiding citizens.
Local and state sanctuary policies have resulted in roughly 45,000 illegal immigrants flooding into Colorado in the past three years, as Coloradans grow weary of paying for them. To our government’s hard-left legislators (many non-elected appointees) and bureaucrats, it seems no amount of migrant pandering goes too far. For years, Colorado residents have endured some of the country’s highest inflation rates and soaring property taxes.
Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Colorado’s inflation rates were consistently higher than the national average from 2021-2023.
In 2023 alone, at least one estimate shows property taxes across Colorado rose as much as 40%. Average Colorado families are scraping by after years of economic hardship. A 2025 Colorado Public Radio report highlights how rising insurance premiums and non-renewals — driven by fires and floods — have left many Coloradans struggling to find coverage.
Conway wants to pile on these hardships by jacking up health insurance premiums to fund care for illegal immigrants — some of whom are foreign prison gang members and criminals who are oddly embraced by the left-wing establishment. Politics aside, how dare Conway even suggest such a betrayal of the people he is paid a solid six figures to serve. Conway’s plan would defund the state’s reinsurance program, which helps stabilize premiums for many Coloradans.
Governor Jared Polis, to his credit, opposes this move, emphasizing his focus on saving people money on healthcare. Yet Conway seems determined to ignore the governor and the public, pushing a scheme that would hit rural families the hardest. Western Slope residents, already facing limited healthcare access, would bear the brunt of this $13,000 premium hike — a cost that could force many to drop coverage.
Apparently, this is Conway’s warped sense of compassion. Meanwhile, state data show more than 300,000 Coloradans have lost Medicaid access since 2023 as funds were redirected to other priorities — including community health centers that serve illegal immigrants. Conway’s proposal would deepen this crisis, leaving more legal residents without care while catering to those who broke our laws to get here.
Conway’s proposal ties directly to his advocacy for a bill in the state legislature that would expand healthcare access to illegal immigrants. He has threatened to unilaterally shift reinsurance funds — causing massive premium hikes — if the bill fails to pass, as reported by Gazette sister publication Colorado Politics. Coloradans deserve leaders who put their needs first, not those who pander to a radical agenda that rewards lawlessness.
If Conway won’t listen — if he continues doubling down — Polis should fire him for undermining the governor’s promise to save people money on health care. We cannot allow hard-left ideologues to keep putting illegal immigrants — some of them dangerous criminals — ahead of the honest, hardworking people who built and fund this state. It is time for accountability, and it starts with stopping this outrageous, tone-deaf scheme.
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