Colorado extends deadline to sign up for health insurance on state exchange to Friday

DENVER – Colorado’s health insurance exchange extended its enrollment deadline by three days Tuesday evening in response to a late surge in people trying to sign up for coverage.

Connect For Health Colorado, which operates the state exchange under the federal Affordable Care Act, extended the deadline for people to sign up to 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3. The deadline had been set for Tuesday evening.

Colorado’s exchange said enrollment on Monday was running 12 percent ahead of 2016 enrollment figures. A spokesman for the exchange said 200,000 people obtained coverage on the exchange last year.

Connect For Health Colorado plans will go into effect March 1, so anyone in the process of enrolling over the phone, in-person at an enrollment center, or online at Friday’s deadline will be able to complete their enrollment.

The spike in enrollment comes as Republicans in Washington say they are working to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and as Republicans in Colorado’s Legislature work to dismantle the state exchange as well.

Tuesday is the deadline for people in states that do not have their own exchanges to sign up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act.