Colorado health insurance
Colorado health insurance
- Colorado utilizes a state-run health insurance marketplace.
- Open enrollment for 2021 health insurance plans in Colorado ran from November 1, 2020 through January 15, 2021 (enrollment in 2022 plans will run from November 1, 2021, through January 15, 2022).
- Legislation to create Colorado’s Public (“State”) Option was abandoned in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic; lawmakers plan to revive a different version in the 2021 session.
- Eight insurers offer plans through the Colorado health insurance marketplace; three of them expanded their coverage areas for 2021.
- Average premiums decreased by 20% for 2020 (but net premiums increased for many people who get subsidies), and decreased by another 1.4% for 2021.
- Nearly 167,000 Colorado residents enrolled in 2020 coverage through the Colorado health insurance marketplace. More than 14,000 others enrolled during Colorado’s COVID-19 SEP. Enrollment in plans for 2021 stood at 172,000 with nine days remaining in open enrollment.
- Colorado terminated all grandmothered health plans at the end of 2015.
- Colorado adopted the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. Growth in Medicaid coverage in Colorado is fourth highest in the nation.
- Colorado has been generally supportive of the ACA and coverage expansion, and was a leader in health reform pre-ACA.
- There are no longer any short-term health insurance plans available in Colorado.
- Medicare enrollment in Colorado exceeded 938,000 as of mid-2020.
- Colorado’s high-risk pool closed in 2014, once individual market plans became guaranteed issue.
This page is dedicated to helping consumers quickly find health insurance resources in the state of Colorado. Here, you’ll find information about the various types of health insurance coverage available in the state. You can find the basics of the Colorado health insurance marketplace/exchange (Connect for Health Colorado) and how open enrollment and special enrollment periods work for plans sold in the exchange; a brief overview of Medicaid expansion in Colorado; an explanation for why short-term health insurance is not available in the state; details about state-specific Medicare rules; as well as a collection of Colorado health insurance resources for residents.
Colorado has long been a leader in health reform
Colorado has long been a leader in terms of healthcare reform. Before the ACA implemented reform on a federal level, Colorado had already made maternity coverage mandatory in the individual market, and had banned gender-based premiums.
Colorado became the second state in the nation to actively pursue single-payer healthcare, with Amendment 69 appearing on the 2016 ballot. However, voters rejected the push for single-payer by a wide margin (Vermont was the first state to implement a plan to achieve single-payer, but they abandoned that path in December 2014).
Colorado implemented a reinsurance program as of 2020, joining a growing number of states that are using 1332 waivers to obtain federal pass-through funding for reinsurance to reduce unsubsidized health insurance premiums and stabilize the state individual market. Individual health insurance premiums in Colorado dropped by an average of 20 percent in 2020, thanks to the reinsurance program (although after-subsidy premiums increased for many people who receive premium subsidies). And overall average rates decreased again in 2021, by 1.4 percent.
Colorado regulators and lawmakers were working on a public option program that the state hoped to debut in the fall of 2021, for coverage effective in 2022, but the legislation to create it was abandoned amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawmakers plan to introduce a different version of it during the 2021 session.
Colorado’s uninsured rate dropped by nearly half from 14.1 percent in 2013, to 7.5 percent in 2018, although it grew to 8 percent in 2019. The Colorado Health Access Survey found an even lower uninsured rate — just 6.5 percent — which has stayed steady from 2017 through 2019.
Colorado’s health insurance marketplace
Colorado utilizes a state-run health insurance exchange — Connect for Health Colorado — which is one of just three exchanges in the nation with a permanently extended open enrollment period (November 1 to January 15).
The marketplace is used by individuals and families who need to purchase their own health coverage, as well as people who are eligible for income-based Medicaid or CHIP. People buy their own health insurance in a variety of situations, including being an early retiree, being self-employed, or being employed by a small business that doesn’t offer health benefits.
Colorado’s marketplace no longer offers small business health plans, but Kaiser still has exchange-certified small business plans for sale, which employers can purchase directly from Kaiser or with the help of a broker or agent.
Eight insurers participate in the Colorado health insurance marketplace as of 2021, and for 2021, three of the state’s insurance companies (Oscar, Cigna, and Rocky Mountain Health Plans) expanded their coverage areas. Insurer participation in Colorado is relatively robust compared with much of the country, but coverage tends to be localized and plan availability is concentrated in urban areas. In 10 of the state’s 64 counties, those who shop the state’s exchange have a single carrier option (Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield) in 2021 (but that’s down from 22 counties in 2020).
Average premiums in Colorado’s individual market dropped by 20 percent for 2020, but that was before any subsidies were applied. After subsidies, many enrollees saw higher monthly premium costs in 2020, due to lower benchmark plan premiums and the resulting decrease in premium subsidy amounts. For 2021, the eight insurers initially proposed an overall average rate increase of just over 2 percent, but once regulators finalized the rates, the changes for 2021 amounted to an average rate decrease of 1.4 percent.
Read our overview of the Colorado health insurance marketplace – including news updates and exchange history.
Colorado open enrollment period and dates
Colorado implemented rules to permanently extend its annual open enrollment period to 2.5 months (November 1 to January 15).
Open enrollment for 2021 medical insurance in Colorado ran from November 1, 2020 through January 15, 2020. This window was an opportunity for new enrollees to select coverage in the individual market (on-exchange or outside the exchange), and for existing enrollees to compare the available options for 2021 and renew or change their existing coverage. Enrollees should also provide updated financial information to the exchange during open enrollment, in order to have financial assistance eligibility based on accurate information for the coming year.
When there were still nine days remaining in open enrollment for 2021 coverage, Connect for Health Colorado announced that more than 172,000 people had enrolled in coverage. This was already a record high, and sign-ups continued to increase over the remaining days of the enrollment window. Enrollment the year before, for 2020 coverage, had reached nearly 167,000 people, although that was down from just over 170,000 enrollees in 2019.
To address the COVID-19 crisis, Colorado opened an emergency special enrollment period for uninsured residents. It ran through April 30, 2020, and 14,263 residents enrolled in coverage during that window.
Read more about the Colorado health insurance marketplace.
Learn more about how open enrollment works for individual market health insurance plans, both on-exchange and outside the exchange.
Grandmothered health insurance plans terminated
Colorado required all grandmothered (transitional) health insurance plans to terminate by the end of 2015. There are still grandfathered health insurance plans in Colorado, but all other individual and small-group plans are now ACA-compliant.
Medicaid expansion in Colorado
Colorado is among the 36 states and the District of Columbia that have expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act. The ACA Medicaid expansion extends eligibility to most non-elderly adults at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
As of mid-2020, total enrollment in Medicaid plans and CHIP plans in Colorado stood at nearly 1.4 million people, which was 77 percent higher than it had been in 2013.
Learn about Colorado’s Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) programs at the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing website, and learn about Colorado’s Medicaid expansion in our overview.
Short-term health insurance in Colorado
As a result of strong new state regulations that took effect in 2019, there is no longer any short-term health insurance coverage available in Colorado. The state created a special enrollment period for people who had short-term health insurance in Colorado but who lost their coverage because their plan terminated and they were unable to purchase another short-term plan (because insurers no longer offer short-term coverage in Colorado).
Colorado legislators’ positions on the Affordable Care Act
In 2009, Colorado Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet – both Democrats – voted yes on the Affordable Care Act. Colorado’s five Democratic House members also voted yes, while the other two representatives, both Republicans, voted no.
The current Colorado congressional delegation includes two Democratic Senators: Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper, both of whom support the ACA. As of 2021, Colorado has seven representatives in the U.S. House: four Democrats, and three Republicans. Support for the ACA is split along party lines in the state’s House delegation.
At the state level, Colorado was one of the only states that moved in a bipartisan manner to establish a state-run health insurance marketplace. When John Hickenlooper was governor, he signed legislation authorizing the marketplace in 2011. The state marketplace is called Connect for Health Colorado. The state also adopted Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.
Colorado’s high-risk insurance pool
Before the ACA reformed the individual health insurance market, coverage was underwritten in nearly every state, including Colorado. People with pre-existing conditions were often unable to purchase coverage in the private market, or were only eligible for policies that excluded their pre-existing conditions or charged them premiums that were significantly higher than the base rate.
CoverColorado was created in 1991 to provide an alternative for people who were not able to get comprehensive coverage in the private market because of their medical history.
One of the primary reforms ushered in by the ACA was guaranteed issue coverage in the individual market. An applicant’s medical history is no longer a factor in eligibility, which means that high-risk pools are no longer necessary the way they once were. CoverColorado stopped enrolling new applicants at the end of 2013, and the program ceased altogether in March 2014.
Medicare coverage and enrollment in Colorado
By November 2020, there were 946,170 enrollees in Medicare in Colorado. About 56 percent of them were enrolled in Original Medicare, with the other 44 percent enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans instead.
Read more about Medicare in Colorado.
Read more about Medicare’s annual open enrollment period, which Medicare beneficiaries can use to compare available Part D and Medicare Advantage plans and renew or make a change to their coverage.
Colorado health insurance resources
- Colorado Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+)
- Colorado Division of Insurance — Oversees, regulates, and licenses the health insurance companies that offer plans in the state, as well as brokers and agents.
- Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing — Oversees Medicaid and CHP+ in Colorado. Also played a key role in developing the framework for the state’s proposed public option plan, which is likely to be considered by lawmakers in 2021.
- Colorado.gov/Health
- Connect for Health Colorado — The state-run marketplace where individuals and families can compare plan options, enroll in coverage, and receive financial assistance based on their household income. The marketplace is also used for enrollment in Medicaid and CHP+
- Colorado Senior Healthcare/Medicare resources (State Health Insurance Assistance Program) — A local service that provides information and assistance to Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers.
Colorado health reform at the state level
Colorado enacted legislation in 2019 to create a reinsurance program, and to get the ball rolling on a public option in the state, as described above. The Colorado Health Institute has an excellent overview of some of the key pieces of legislation the state passed in 2019.
Legislation that would have created the public option was abandoned in 2020, however, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
See the bottom of this page for a summary of other recent state-level health reform legislation.
Louise Norris is an individual health insurance broker who has been writing about health insurance and health reform since 2006. She has written dozens of opinions and educational pieces about the Affordable Care Act for healthinsurance.org. Her state health exchange updates are regularly cited by media who cover health reform and by other health insurance experts.
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