The Cost of Colorado Option Insurance is About to Increase

Back in 2022, Colorado and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services came together to create “Colorado Option”.

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The idea has been to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities by giving Coloradans new coverage options.

However, it would seem prices are about to go up for all Colorado Option users.

Colorado Option Premiums to Increase

The Denver Post reported that starting next year, the monthly premiums for Colorado Option plans could increase by 4%.

This comes off the back of insurers asking Colorado to increase the monthly premiums for Colorado Option by 8%.

Despite a good chunk of Colorado Option plans not decreasing premium costs by 10% like they were set out to do, the Denver Post notes they were still some of the cheapest plans people in the state could get.

What Is Colorado Option?

Colorado Option is a program that essentially levels the playing field when it comes to buying insurance.

What it does is give people the same benefits across all insurance companies, meaning the only things that change are premiums, doctors, hospitals, and customer service.

The big benefits that Colorado Option boasts are free primary care, mental health office visits, prenatal and post-pregnancy visits, certain free diabetic supplies, and predictable costs.

You can only get it on the individual market or through small employers with less than 100 people.

Getting started in 2022, the program had a controversial start here in Colorado.

However, 80,655 Coloradans enrolled in the program for 2024, showing that it is definitely a popular option here. Compared to the open enrollment period in 2023, that's a 188% increase.