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Affordable Health Insurance in Colorado: What Most People Don't Know
Five facts most Coloradans learn the expensive way.
1. "Affordable" on the marketplace means subsidized
Connect for Health Colorado prices are designed to be offset by the premium tax credit. Without it, you're paying the full cost of a guaranteed-issue pool.
2. There's a second market
Private shared-network plans on Cigna, Aetna and PHCS PPO price on health instead of income. For healthy people above the subsidy line they're often half the price, with a PPO.
3. Your doctor probably takes the PPO, not the HMO
National PPO networks are what most employer plans use. Many doctors in Denver and Colorado Springs are in the Cigna, Aetna and PHCS PPO network and not in the narrow marketplace HMOs.
4. You can enroll in a private plan any month
No waiting for November. Apply by the 20th, coverage on the 1st.
5. The deduction applies either way
Colorado has a flat state income tax, so the self-employed premium deduction helps at both levels.
And one Colorado-specific thing
Colorado requires carriers to sell standardized 'Colorado Option' plans on the marketplace, and mountain-county premiums run well above Front Range prices — the gap private plans tend to close.
Check your options to see what affordable actually looks like for your situation.