Colorado: @C4HCO releases 2023 Open Enrollment Period Report

via Connect for Health Colorado:

DENVER— In its tenth year of enrollment operations, Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s official health insurance marketplace, is providing more financial help for health insurance, offering more local enrollment assistance and enrolling more people into coverage than ever before.

In a report published today, Connect for Health Colorado provides a comprehensive look at the Open Enrollment Period data and outcomes. (Connect for Health Colorado released preliminary enrollment totals from the Open Enrollment Period at the end of January.) This new report includes information such as average costs and enrollments by county and the significance of Broker and Assister enrollment assistance. Here are the highlights:

Making Plans More Affordable

Connect for Health Colorado is the only place where residents can access financial help to cover monthly premiums and health care costs. The extension of enhanced financial help via the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022 kept the cost of staying covered controlled for many customers. This year, the average premium for people who received financial help was $143. For people not receiving financial help, the average monthly premium was $412.

For a third year, the Marketplace saw an increase in people choosing Gold-level plans. Year over year, there was an 8-percentage point increase among those who qualify for financial help and a 10-percentage point increase for those who don’t qualify for financial help.

Increasing Enrollments in Rural Areas

One of Connect for Health Colorado’s strategic goals is to advocate to improve access to coverage in rural areas of the state. To support that effort, Connect for Health Colorado increased its enrollment assistance network in rural communities, with 26 of 51 Enrollment Center locations offered in rural communities and new sites added in Salida, Buena Vista and Durango.

Staying with a four-year trend, many of the largest increases in enrollments came from rural counties. The percentages of the population in these rural counties that enrolled through Connect for Health Colorado are comparable to more populous counties. For example, four percent of Kiowa County’s population enrolled through Connect for Health Colorado – the same percentage as the more populous Jefferson County. For people in rural counties, the average premium with financial help applied was $130.

Providing Expert Assistance in Your Community

Connect for Health Colorado’s certified Brokers continue to be integral partners in keeping Coloradans covered. In fact, the majority of customers enrolling in health insurance through the Marketplace, 62 percent, did so with the guidance of a Broker.

Certified Enrollment Assisters also provide crucial support to residents, especially those who face barriers to health care coverage. More than 50 percent of all completed appointments with Assisters were with customers who were uninsured for at least two months before their appointment, and over 40 percent of all completed appointments with Assisters were in Spanish. 

Enrollment Centers maintained their role as important footholds in small, rural communities and larger cities. In total, nearly 46,000 Coloradans enrolled in Marketplace coverage at an Enrollment Center, and 82 percent of them received financial help.

You can find more data about plan selection trends, average costs and savings in your county, Colorado Option plans, outreach and marketing strategies to reach eligible Coloradans and more in the By the Numbers End of Open Enrollment Report for Plan Year 2023.

Opportunities to Enroll Now

People can enroll in health insurance now if they have a qualifying life event, such as losing Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) coverage, losing health insurance from your job and certain household changes.

Free help is available year-round from certified Brokers and community-based Assisters. Contact Connect for Health Colorado at ConnectforHealthCO.com or by calling 855-752-6749 to apply for health insurance during a Special Enrollment Period and to find local enrollment assistance.

The report itself is in PDF format which makes it a bit tricky to repost here, but here's some of the main points:

201,758 Coloradans enrolled in a health insurance plan through Connect for Health Colorado’s marketplace during the Open Enrollment Period for 2023 coverage.

Additionally, 10,416 people enrolled in a health insurance plan through Colorado Connect, a public benefit corporation and new, online platform established by Connect for Health Colorado. The majority of those Colorado Connect enrollments were from the OmniSalud program, which provides Coloradans who are undocumented with a safe platform to compare plans, apply for financial help and enroll.

By the close of the Open Enrollment Period, more than 212,000 Coloradans signed up for a health insurance plan that provides coverage in 2023 (212,174 to be precise)

• 62,138 enrolled in a stand-alone dental plan
• 171 employees
• $43 million annual budget
• 166 health plans available
• 11 stand-alone dental plans
• 6 carriers (3 dental carriers)
• 1,497 licensed, trained & certified brokers
• 49 assistance network organizations
• 340 trained & certified guides/CACs

Colorado Connect is a public benefit corporation and online platform owned and operated by Connect for Health Colorado that offers health care ancillary products and services. Starting this year, Colorado Connect is home to the OmniSalud program, allowing Coloradans who are undocumented to safely purchase Colorado Option plans and receive financial help if eligible. We call that financial help SilverEnhanced Savings.

Not only did the OmniSalud program meet the needs of the state, it underestimated its popularity. By December 6, the total available funding for SilverEnhanced Savings was claimed by the nearly 10,000 Coloradans who enrolled in a Silver-level plan with the SliverEnhanced Savings financial help applied.

• 10,416 Total Colorado Connect Enrollments During Open Enrollment
• 9,603 w/financial help

Connect for Health Colorado is the only place where Coloradans can access financial help to cover monthly premiums and health care costs.

The extension of financial help via the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022 kept the cost of staying covered controlled, and Colorado’s Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise provided additional health care savings to people shopping on the Marketplace.

• $143: Avg. net premium after tax credits for those receiving it
• $412: Avg. premium for those not receiving tax credits
• 75% of enrollees receiving financial aid
• 21,411 enrollees receiving additional state subsidies
• $586,800,302: Total federal tax credits

One of Connect for Health Colorado’s strategic goals is to advocate to improve access to coverage in rural areas of our state.

Staying with a four-year trend, the majority of the largest increases in enrollments came from rural counties. The percentages of the population in these rural counties that enrolled through Connect for Health Colorado are comparable to more populous counties. For example, 4 percent of Kiowa County’s population enrolled through Connect for Health Colorado – the same percentage as the more populous Jefferson County.

We’re here to help as many eligible Coloradans as possible get covered with health insurance – many of whom have varying and unique health needs, income sources and household demographic compositions.

This year, we saw a 1-percentage point increase in enrollments from new customers, but almost no changes to the breakdown of our customer base by age. For a third year, we saw an increase in people choosing Gold-level plans: an 8-percentage point increase among those who qualify for financial help and a 10-percentage point increase for those who don’t qualify for financial help.