Colorado Division of Insurance warns health insurance rates could increase by 28% in 2026

Health insurance for the individual market in Colorado could increase by 28% for 2026, according to the Colorado Division of Insurance.

And the rate for the Western Slope could be even higher, averaging as much as 38%, the division said on Wednesday.

Rate filings will become public on Friday.

The division attributed the above-average increases to President Donald Trump's federal tax bill, recently passed by Congress. "These circumstances are not unique to Colorado, and other states will likely have similar increases," the division said in a statement Wednesday.

The driver for those increases is the loss of financial assistance that helps people afford health insurance, and which also puts downward pressure on premium rates. That assistance will expire on Dec. 31, and its impact will be felt immediately by 321,000 Coloradans, the division said.

Average premium increases were at 5.6% in 2025, 9.7% in 2024, 10.4% in 2023 and 1.1% in 2022, the division said.

"We have been warning folks that the chaos being caused by the federal government for our health insurance markets was going to create real pain for Coloradans," said Michael Conway, commissioner of insurance.

Those premium increases will hit the mountain areas, the rural counties and the Western Slope the hardest, with average increases approaching 40%. "The sad reality is that many of those folks will be forced to gamble with their health because they simply cannot afford these rate increases caused by the federal government," Conway added.

Gov. Jared Polis noted that high premium increases were observed during the first Trump administration. "Tragically, Congress is kicking people off their health care and has created chaos that is going to cost Coloradans money," the governor said.

Some of the rate increases are tied to the loss of federal financial assistance for the state's reinsurance program, which buys down the cost of health insurance. Reinsurance covers the highest medical expenses for health insurance companies through a fee paid by the insurance companies, which is then pooled and matched with federal dollars.

The loss of funding for the reinsurance program is expected to result in a 40% reduction in the program's impact in 2026, the division stated.

However, even without the loss of those federal dollars, the division said, premiums were expected to increase by 20% in 2026.

"Unfortunately, it does not appear that we can rely on the federal government to ensure that people have access to health care," Conway said.

The second part of the rate increase is tied to the loss of subsidies for health insurance. Those who buy health insurance on the individual market and who make up to 400% of the federal poverty level, $62,00 for a single person or $128,600 for a family of four, will lose the federal subsidies as a result of the federal tax bill. That means they'll have to pay the full price.

Connect for Health Colorado reported in January that 80% of the 282,483 Coloradans who enrolled in their health insurance plans received those subsidies.

According to the 2023 Colorado Health Access Survey, 5% of Coloradans statewide purchase plans on the individual market. About 50% are enrolled in an employer-sponsored plan, 30% in Medicaid and 10% in Medicare. In the counties along the I-70 mountain corridor — Eagle, Garfield, Grand, Pitkin and Summit counties — closer to 9% purchase an individual plan, with 45% getting it through their employer.

House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, represents Coloradans in six central mountain counties: Chaffee, Grand, Jackson, Lake, Park and Summit, where health insurance costs

"The GOP's health care chaos is increasing insurance premiums across our state, with the most drastic impacts in the high country where we've worked so hard to lower costs," McCluskie said in the DOI statement. "Families in my community will struggle to afford Trump's 40-percent increase in premiums, and many will be forced to make difficult choices. With fewer insured patients, our rural health care systems that provide a lifeline to many folks on the Western Slope might not be able to keep the doors open. We will do everything we can to continue reducing costs, but actions in Washington are making life more expensive for Coloradans."

Rep. Kyle Brown, D-Louisville, formerly the deputy director of DOI, added "The GOP's megabill slashed health care coverage in favor of tax breaks for billionaires, and now more than 300,000 Coloradans will experience a rise in health care costs. I am very alarmed by the 28-percent spike in health insurance premiums across Colorado because it means hardworking families will either be stuck with health care bills they cannot afford or delay the care they need."