Gabe Evans talked about lower costs, then voted against ACA subsidies

Colorado Rep. Gabe Evans put lowering health care costs at the top of his 2026 to-do list, and then immediately voted against a bipartisan plan to do exactly that.

Evans told the Denver Gazette last December that his constituents were concerned about the “rising cost of health care, and specifically health insurance.” He told Colorado Public Radio a week later that he wanted Congress to focus on cost-of-living issues in the new year.

But one of Evans’ first votes of 2026 was against reinstating Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) tax credits that kept insurance premiums low for 22 million Americans. Many of Evans’ own constituents have seen their monthly premiums nearly triple since the credits expired on Jan. 1.

“I cannot in good conscience vote for legislation that does nothing to fix the systemic problems and rampant fraud within the enhanced Obamacare tax credits,” Evans said in a statement defending his vote.

Many of the 196 House Republicans who opposed the credits also cited rampant fraud as their reason for doing so. Health policy experts, however, say the rate of fraud is minimal and that eliminating the credits won’t fix it.

“It really is trivial, the scope of fraud,” Michael Gusmano, a professor of health policy at Lehigh University, told CNBC. “It’s just a scare tactic to justify the reduction of the federal government’s role in subsidizing health insurance.”

The bill to reinstate the credits passed the House on Jan. 8 with mostly Democratic votes. It now faces an uncertain future in the Republican-led Senate.

On Jan. 9, a voter recorded an interaction outside the Capitol in which he asked Evans to address Americans struggling with high health care costs. Evans stared blankly at the camera and did not respond.

Evans voting against affordable health care is nothing new. Last year, he supported the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will make sweeping cuts to Medicaid. More than 200,000 Coloradans are projected to lose insurance because of the law, including 30,000 in Evans’ district.

Rural hospitals that depend on Medicaid reimbursements to operate are threatened by the law as well. At least six Colorado hospitals are expected to close unless action is taken to mitigate the cuts.

Evans is running for a second term in Congress this year. He is considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents facing reelection.