Nov. 14 community event will highlight need to reverse H.R. 1 cuts that endanger 12 Colorado hospitals and 600+ hospitals nationwide

Registered nurses will hold a rally and community event on Saturday, Nov. 14 in Denver to demand the newly elected Democratic Congress make the reversal of the H.R. 1 federal health care cuts – passed in 2025 by President Trump and Republicans in Congress – a top priority. 

Nurses will also demand the new Congress immediately move to pass H.R. 2550, or the Protect America’s Workforce Act (PAWA), which would restore bargaining rights to federal workers, including nurses at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Aurora. The nurses are members of National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the nation. 

The restoration of federal health care funding and workers’ collective bargaining rights is critical to the well-being of Colorado communities. Financial analysis by NNU, published in “A Preventable Crisis”, shows that 12 hospitals in Colorado are extremely vulnerable to service cuts, and even closure, due to impending cuts imposed by H.R. 1 and their reliance on Medicare and Medicaid funding. 

More information on the impact of H.R. 1 on Colorado hospitals and patient care is available here.

Who: Colorado registered nurses and community allies 
What: ‘RED ALERT’ rally and community event 
When: Nov. 14 | Free wellness checks beginning 11 a.m.; free food and live music beginning 11a.m.; program/rally begins at 12 p.m.
Where: Benedict Fountain Park | 401 E. 20th Ave, Denver, CO

"The newly elected Democratic Congress must act urgently and reverse H.R. 1 cuts that threaten Colorado's health care services,” said registered nurse Sharda Fornnarino, who is also a Navy veteran and National Nurses Organizing Committee board member. “This Congress was elected across the country in sweeping numbers to bring down the cost of living and improve quality of life. They can help deliver on their promises by making sure our patients don't have to suffer the consequences of H.R. 1, which will mean paying even more for health care or travelling further for their care."

The largest of Colorado’s most vulnerable hospitals are:

1. Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital in Lakewood
2. Banner Health North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley
3. UC Health Highlands Ranch Hospital in Highlands Ranch

NNU expects that the total losses as a result of H.R. 1 across all 12 vulnerable hospitals, which receive more than 47,000 patient visits a year, will be between $51.9 million and $75.4 million annually.

Without urgent action from the newly-elected Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress, Colorado patients are expected to face increasing challenges to accessing care with the expiration of ACA subsidies–on top of the Medicaid and Medicare cuts. Close to 1.2 million Coloradans are on Medicaid. It is estimated that under H.R.1, some 377,000 Coloradans will be subject to work requirements or exemption reporting, with approximately 100,000 expected to lose coverage altogether. Additionally, projections show that up to 7,000 lawfully present immigrants in Colorado will lose or have already lost coverage.  

In addition, Colorado is already suffering from a loss of services and H.R. 1 will only exacerbate the problem. Since 2020, 5 rural labor and delivery units have shuttered in the state. Additionally, in 2025, Banner Health announced it was shutting the emergency room at McKee Medical Center in Loveland and transitioning from a general, acute hospital to a specialty hospital. 

Colorado residents will undoubtedly be hit with a double punch as H.R. 1 is also slated to cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $187 billion over the next ten years. 

Starting in 2027, Colorado will need to cover 10 percent of the cost of SNAP. Just over 583,000 Coloradans receive SNAP benefits and will now face greater food insecurity. Since July 2026 alone, 33,681 fewer individuals are utilizing SNAP. An estimated 8,000 legal immigrants in Colorado lost their benefits in May.

More information on the impact of H.R. 1 on Colorado hospitals and patient care is available here.

Nurses are also demanding Congress quickly pass the PAWA in order to nullify Trump’s March 27, 2025 executive order, which sought to end collective bargaining contracts with more than a million federal workers, including nurses at the VA. PAWA already claims bipartisan support and passed last year in the U.S. House of Representatives. NNU and other unions contend Trump’s executive order was an overreach of presidential powers and was issued under the false pretense that unionized federal workers represent a threat to national security. NNU contends the true impetus for the executive order was to silence nurses and other workers so the Trump administration could implement an agenda that works to the advantage of billionaires and their corporations, through the acceleration of the VA’s privatization.

‘RED ALERT’ tour offers the union nurses’ vision for how to make America healthy:

The Nov. 14 Denver event is part of National Nurses United’s RED ALERT bus tour, which is travelling to communities facing a drastic reduction in the quantity and quality of health care services as a result of H.R. 1. 

H.R. 1 is the 2025 budget bill, pushed through by Republicans and President Trump, that cut more than $1 trillion in Medicaid and Medicare funding to give billionaires tax breaks, militarize immigration enforcement, and fund endless wars abroad. Nurses have condemned these cuts to health care funding and denounced its funnelling into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), which have unleashed a deadly, illegal, and cruel terror campaign across the country. An ABC News analysis found that during Trump’s second term, federal agents have shot at least 21 people, killing eight.  According to the National Immigration Project, at least 30 people have died in ICE custody this year alone.

Union nurses are taking their alternative Vision for a Healthy Society directly to the patients and working-class communities they serve. To date, RED ALERT has visited communities in Glendale, Oceanside, Alameda, and Oroville in California; Minneapolis, Minn.; Kalamazoo and Ironwood in Michigan; Chicago, Ill.; Bangor, Maine; and Washington, D.C. 

“The billionaire class and their Republican puppets gut public health protections to make themselves richer and militarize our neighborhoods, with zero regard for working people and families struggling to survive,” said NNU President Jamie Brown, RN. “Nurses refuse their deadly agenda. We’re taking the wheel and bringing our vision for a healthy society directly to patients and communities who will bear the brunt of Republican policies. We invite everyone who has felt abandoned by the political system to join us and build real working-class solidarity.”

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.