Colo. Gov. Polis: Summit County Residents Individual Health Insurance Plans to See Up to 47% Decrease in 2020 Over 2019 Plans

KEYSTONE, Colorado, Sept. 9 -- Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colorado, issued the following news release:

Today, Governor Jared Polis and the Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI), part of the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), announced that premiums for individual health insurance plans from Peak Health Alliance in Summit County will see decreases ranging from 39 to 47 percent compared to last year's premiums. These decreases include savings from the state's newly-passed reinsurance program, which is already bringing down premiums in mountain communities by an average of 29 percent.

"We ran the numbers for the silver plan and found that a typical family of four would save about $14,000 dollars per year, a 35-year-old individual on a silver plan will save about $3,600 per year," said Governor Jared Polis.

"Now customers are banding together to solve a problem and it's a model we are expanding statewide to save people money on healthcare. Peak Health is a great example of a community together to create real change," added Gov. Polis. "As Governor, I want to emphasize that we will be working with Insurance Commissioner Conway and others across the state to make this into a statewide model because supporting local innovative solutions that save people money on health care are a top priority for my administration."

"This community needs to thank the leaders in Summit," said Commissioner Conway. "Without their work - with me and the Division of Insurance, with legislative champions for their ideas including Kerry Donovan, Dylan Roberts, and Julie McCluskie, and with the Governor's office - Peak doesn't happen and lower prices don't happen. This model provides better leverage in negotiations and these premiums are the result. I'm anxious to see this replicated in other communities and across the state."

Peak Health Alliance (PHA) is an alliance that brings together the individual health insurance market (people who do not get their insurance from an employer), the small group market (small employers up to 100 employees) and the large group market to negotiate prices with hospitals and doctors directly, rather than having insurance companies negotiate on their behalf. The brainchild of Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway, the community purchasing model allows a community to work together as one voice to bring down the costs of health care.

"The key pillars of success were local funding, access to local data, and local negotiation," said Tamara Pogue Drangstveit, CEO of Peak Health. "The support from state leadership, from the insight into the regulation to legislative support, is what brought to fruition all the work done by the Peak Health team and local leaders. It isn't just our group that wins, it's the entire county--setting the stage for statewide success."

The PHA of Summit County is the first Colorado community to bring the community purchasing model to fruition. It has been working towards this goal since 2018, although many of the individuals involved have been battling high health care costs in the mountains for a number of years. For more information about the Peak Health Alliance visit PeakHealthAlliance.org.

The Division of Insurance will announce all of the 2020 individual and small group plans and premiums for the entire state in late September / early October. The preliminary information announced in July projected that individual plans would see an average decrease of 18.2 percent over the 2019 premiums.