Enrollment on Colorado’s health insurance marketplace up 33% so far from 2016

DENVER – Colorado’s health insurance marketplace, Connect for Health Colorado, has seen a 33-percent increase in signups in the first two weeks of open enrollment this year when compared to 2016.

More than 22,600 Coloradans have picked a plan on the state’s ACA marketplace—an increase of more than 5,000 people who signed up for coverage between Nov. 1 and Nov. 15 of last year.

Connect for Health Colorado CEO Kevin Patterson said 14 percent of the enrollments came from new customers, while the remaining 86 percent were renewing previous plans.

“I am glad to see the number of initial sign-ups during the first two weeks of open enrollment,” Patterson said in a statement, adding there had “been some confusion” about coverage under the ACA.

The numbers for the national ACA marketplace were even larger. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Wednesday that it had seen a 45-percent increase in enrollments from 2016 in the first 11 days of open enrollment in the 39 states that use HealthCare.gov rather than their own marketplaces.

The national report said about 23 percent of those 1.5 million signups were from new customers. The new figures come on the heels of several failed attempts by Republicans in Congress and the White House to repeal, and possibly replace, the ACA.

The federal government capped this year’s open enrollment period for states that use the federal marketplace on Dec. 15. But in Colorado, the enrollment period will stay open through Jan. 12.

But Coloradans wanting coverage to start on Jan. 1 are still required to enroll by Dec. 15.

There are a wide array of plans being offered across most counties in Colorado, and Connect for Health Colorado has several tools to help you decide which to choose. Click here to see all the plans and options for your family.

There is also a tool found on this page that you can use to plug in your age, family size and coverage needs, which can show you the options you, in particular, have to choose from.