Colorado health insurance Marketplace guide

To sign up for private health insurance through Connect for Health Colorado, you must:¹¹

• Be a resident of Colorado
• Not be incarcerated
• Not be enrolled in Medicare
• Be lawfully present in the United States. (Colorado has created a separate platform that undocumented residents can use to enroll in state-subsidized health coverage,¹² but funding for this program is expected to be significantly lower for 2026, leading to less assistance and/or fewer program slots available.)⁷ 

So most Colorado residents are eligible to enroll in coverage through the exchange. But a bigger question for most people is financial assistance, and a few additional parameters must be met to qualify for subsidies through Connect for Health Colorado. 

To qualify for income-based Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTC), federal cost-sharing reductions (CSR), or Colorado’s state-funded cost-sharing subsidies,¹³  you must:

• Not have access to affordable employer-sponsored health coverage. If you have access to an employer’s plan and aren’t sure whether it’s considered affordable, you can use our Employer Health Plan Affordability Calculator to see if you might qualify for premium subsidies via Connect for Health Colorado. 
• Not be eligible for Health First Colorado (Colorado Medicaid) or Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+), or premium-free Medicare Part A.¹⁴
• File a joint tax return if you’re married.¹⁵
• Not be able to be claimed by someone else as a tax dependent.¹⁵

Beyond those basic parameters, qualifying for subsidies through Connect for Health Colorado depends on how much your household earns and how that compares with the cost of the second-lowest-cost Silver plan in your area – which will depend on your age and location.

As described below, Colorado also offers additional state-funded subsidies for lower-income enrollees.

For the time being, Colorado’s open enrollment period begins November 1 and continues through January 15, allowing Colorado residents to select a health plan for the coming year. This enrollment window is applicable for plans obtained through the exchange, OmniSalud, and directly from insurers (No subsidies are available for plans obtained directly from insurers.) 

For coverage to take effect on January 1, your application needs to be completed by December 15. If you enroll between December 16 and January 15, your new coverage will take effect on February 1.¹⁶

However, the federal government has finalized a rule change that will require open enrollment to end no later than December 31, starting in the fall of 2026 (for coverage effective in 2027). At that point, all policies selected during open enrollment will have to take effect January 1, and there will no longer be an option for a February 1 start date.

Outside of the annual open enrollment period, you may be eligible to enroll or make a plan change if you experience a qualifying life event, such as giving birth or losing other health coverage.

As of 2024, Colorado joined several other states that consider pregnancy to be a qualifying event.¹⁷ This allows uninsured pregnant women the opportunity to enroll in health coverage without having to wait until the baby is born.

Some people can enroll year-round even without a specific qualifying life event.

Enrollment in Health First Colorado (Medicaid) and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) is available year-round.¹⁸

To enroll in an ACA Marketplace/exchange plan in Colorado, you can: 

• Visit Connect for Health Colorado, which is Colorado’s health insurance Marketplace. This online platform will allow you to compare available health plans, determine whether you’re eligible for financial assistance, and enroll in coverage, either during open enrollment or during a special enrollment period. 
• Enroll in a Connect for Health Colorado plan with the help of an insurance broker or certified enrollment assister.¹⁹
  

You can reach Connect for Health Colorado’s call center at 855-752-6749 (TTY line: 855-346-3432)

Premium subsidies

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), income-based subsidies (APTC) are available to lower the amount you pay for your health coverage each month. These subsidies are available to enrollees who meet the eligibility requirements and select a health plan through Connect for Health Colorado.

Eighty percent of Connect for Health Colorado enrollees were receiving APTC as of early 2025. For these consumers, the average after-subsidy premium was about $138/month.⁵

Starting in the 2026 plan year, Colorado’s additional state-funded subsidy will switch from an extra cost-sharing reduction to an extra premium subsidy. For enrollees with household income up to 200% of the federal poverty level, the state will provide an additional $50/month for the primary applicant (on top of their federal premium subsidies), plus an additional $18/month for other applicants on a family policy.⁷ 

Cost-sharing reductions

If your household’s income doesn’t exceed 250% of the federal poverty level, you’ll also be eligible for federal cost-sharing reductions (CSR). This subsidy will reduce your deductible and other out-of-pocket expenses as long as you select a Silver-level plan through the exchange. In 2025, more than 29% of Connect for Health Colorado enrollees were receiving CSR benefits.⁵

Colorado also offers additional cost-sharing subsidies to silver-plan enrollees with household income up to 200% of the federal poverty level (this benefit had extended to 250% FPL in 2024,²⁰ but the limit was reduced to 200% FPL for 2025²¹). As noted above, these extra cost-sharing reductions will no longer be available as of 2026, as the state is switching to an additional premium subsidy instead.

Through 2025, Colorado’s supplemental cost-sharing subsidies add to federal cost-sharing reductions, resulting in much lower deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for eligible enrollees.²²

If you’re eligible for both APTC and CSR, you can use them both if you enroll in a Silver-level plan through Connect for Health Colorado. (APTC can be used with any metal-level plan, but CSR benefits, including Colorado’s additional state-funded cost-sharing subsidies, are only available if you enroll in a Silver plan.)

Colorado Option (public option) plans provide value

Many Connect for Health Colorado enrollees find that Colorado Option plans present the best overall value. These public option plans accounted for 47% of the state’s Marketplace enrollments in 2025.⁴ They come with lower premiums than many other plans, as well as lower out-of-pocket costs for various services.²³

Health First Colorado (Medicaid) or CHP+

Depending on your income and circumstances, you may be able to enroll in free or low-cost health coverage through Health First Colorado (Medicaid) or CHP+. Learn more about whether you might be eligible for these programs in Colorado.

OmniSalud: Health insurance access for undocumented immigrants

As of 2023, Colorado provides state-funded premium and cost-sharing assistance to undocumented immigrants who enroll through a new public benefit corporation (Colorado Connect/OmniSalud) that the state has created.²⁴ This is separate from Colorado’s health insurance exchange, as undocumented immigrants are not eligible to use an ACA-created health insurance exchange.

In 2023, OmniSalud provided coverage to 10,000 enrollees, and the state announced that the program would be available to 11,000 people for 2024.²⁵

But that 11,000 cap was reached in just the first two days of open enrollment for 2024 coverage.⁶ After the cap was reached, additional OmniSalud enrollments for 2024 were at full price.

There was no automatic re-enrollment, so people with coverage through OmniSalud in 2023 had to re-enroll during the open enrollment period for 2024 coverage. For 2025, however, Colorado officials said that people with existing OmniSalud coverage would have their spaces saved for 2025, giving them time to renew their coverage before new applicants were given access (if available) to the program.²⁶

For 2025, Colorado officials announced that nearly 14,000 people enrolled in plans via Colorado Connect (the separate platform that Colorado established to facilitate OmniSalud enrollment), most of whom were OmniSalud enrollees.⁴

Source: CMS.gov ²⁷

A note about Marketplace health benefits: Colorado updated its Essential Health Benefits Benchmark health plan as of 2023 (benchmark plans dictate what must be covered under essential health benefit rules on individual and small group health plans).

Colorado’s changes to the benchmark plan for 2023 include additional mental health coverage, expanded access to drugs that can be prescribed as alternatives to opioids, and up to six acupuncture treatments per year. In addition, Colorado is the first state to explicitly include gender-affirming care in its benchmark plan.²⁸ In addition, Colorado enacted legislation in 2025 that prevents health plans from “limiting or denying gender-affirming care that a doctor identifies as medically necessary.”²⁹

But HHS finalized a rule change in 2025 that prohibits health plans from covering gender affirming care as an essential health benefit (EHB), starting in 2026.³⁰ Federal premium subsidies can only be used to pay for coverage of EHBs, so this rule could result in either enrollees or the state having to pay the portion of the premiums that are associated with gender-affirming care.

Six insurers offer 2025 coverage in Colorado’s health insurance Marketplace, with coverage areas that vary by insurer.³¹

All six will continue to offer coverage in 2026, but with fairly significant rate increases (details below).⁹

They are the same six insurers that offered coverage for 2024.³² For 2024, SelectHealth joined the health insurance exchange in Colorado, with plans available mostly along the Front Range.³³ SelectHealth already offered plans in the exchange in Utah, Idaho, and Nevada. Their expansion into Colorado was due to a merger between Intermountain Health (SelectHealth is Intermountain’s insurance arm) and Colorado-based UCHealth.³⁴

Friday Health Plans offered coverage in early 2023, but stopped accepting new enrollees in May and all FHP policies in Colorado terminated on August 31, 2023.³⁵

For 2026, the following average rate changes have been proposed by Colorado’s individual/family insurance carriers:⁹

Overall, the average proposed premium increase is 28% for 2026.⁹ This is the highest since 2018 (details below), and state regulators noted that the rate increases are due in large part to Congressional Republicans’ failure to extend the subsidy enhancements that have driven record high enrollment in recent years.⁹

It’s important to keep in mind that average rate changes apply to full-price rates, and most enrollees do not pay full price: Almost 80% of the people enrolled through Connect for Health Colorado were receiving premium subsidies in 2025, offsetting a significant portion of their monthly premium cost.³⁶

However, the impending expiration of the subsidy enhancements that have been in place since 2021 will have a chilling effect on Marketplace enrollment in 2026. Nationwide, about 4 million fewer people are expected to enroll in coverage. Insurers know that healthy people are the most likely to drop their coverage when net (after-subsidy) premiums increase, so the overall risk pool is expected to be sicker. This will lead to higher gross (pre-subsidy) premiums across the board.

Here’s a summary of how Colorado health insurance plans’ average full-price premiums have changed over the years in the individual/family market:

• 2015: Average increase of 0.71%³⁷
• 2016: Average increase of 9.84%³⁸
• 2017: Average increase of 20.4%³⁹
• 2018: Average increase of 34.3%⁴⁰ (including loss of federal CSR funding)
• 2019: Average increase of 5.6%⁴¹
• 2020: Average decrease of 20%⁴² (reinsurance program took effect)
• 2021: Average decrease of 1.4%⁴³
• 2022: Average increase of 1.1%⁴⁴
• 2023: Average increase of 10.4%⁴⁵
• 2024: Average increase of 9.7%⁴⁶
• 2025: Average increase of 5.6%⁴⁷

282,481 people enrolled in private plans through Connect for Health Colorado during the open enrollment period for 2025 coverage.⁵

This was a significant record high, dwarfing the previous record high set the year before, when more than 237,000 people enrolled for 2024.⁴⁸

Enrollment in OmniSalud ended January 15, 2025, just like all other individual market plans in Colorado. During the open enrollment period for 2025 coverage, nearly 14,000 people enrolled in OmniSalud plans.⁴

The increase in enrollment in recent years is due to the enhancements of federal subsidies under the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act, as well as Colorado’s investment in additional state-funded subsidies (see below for a chart detailing enrollment in prior years).

In addition, enrollment growth in 2024 was partly due to the “unwinding” of the pandemic-era continuous coverage rule for Medicaid. People were not disenrolled from Medicaid for three years, but disenrollments resumed in mid-2023. CMS reported that 20,815 Colorado residents transitioned from Medicaid to a Connect for Health Colorado plan during the unwinding process⁴⁹

Source: 2014,⁵⁰ 2015,⁵¹ 2016,⁵²  2017,⁵³  2018,⁵⁴ 2019,⁵⁵ 2020,⁵⁶ 2021,⁵⁷ 2022,⁵⁸ 2023,⁵⁹ 2024,⁶⁰ 2025⁶¹

Connect for Health Colorado: This is the Marketplace/exchange in Colorado. Residents can use Connect for Health Colorado to enroll in individual/family health plans and receive income-based subsidies, and also to enroll in Health First Colorado. You can contact Connect for Health Colorado at 855-752-6749

OmniSalud/Colorado Connect: This state-based platform allows undocumented immigrants to sign up for health coverage. Depending on an applicant’s income and the number of people who have already enrolled, state-funded premium and cost-sharing subsidies may be available.

Colorado Division of Insurance: Regulates the insurance industry in Colorado, and assists consumers and businesses with insurance-related questions and concerns.

Colorado Department of Health Policy and Financing (HCPF): Administers Medicaid (Health First Colorado), Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) and other health care programs.

Colorado Senior Health Care and Medicare Assistance: A service for Colorado Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers, providing information and assistance with questions related to Medicare eligibility, enrollment, and claims.