Colorado health exchange says that despite lower prices, it pays to shop around

For the first time since the state’s health exchange opened in 2013, premiums are expected to be lower than the year before, Connect for Health Colorado said Wednesday.

Even more savings could still be found by shopping around, Connect for Health officials said. Open enrollment in the health plan begins Friday.

Connect for Health CEO Kevin Patterson said Wednesday there might be options this year that could trim up to 30% from renewal notices.

While open enrollment runs through Jan. 15, customers must sign up by Dec. 15 to have coverage Jan. 1, Connect for Health said.

Savings is the buzzword of the moment in Colorado government when it comes to the high cost of health insurance. Democrats in the Colorado Legislature and Gov. Jared Polis have made reducing insurance costs in Colorado a priority.

Among the solutions has been a reinsurance pool for those with the highest cost medical needs, reducing premiums for everyone else. High country communities are forming cooperatives to band together for group rates, along with such measures as capping the cost of insulin and launching an investigation into why insulin prices skyrocketed in recent years. Colorado also hopes to import cheaper drugs from Canada, to reduce costs.

This month, Polis announced a state-provided option that’s expected to offer premiums between 9% and 18% cheaper than what will be offered elsewhere in 2022, according to a draft of the plan.

“There’s a number of things that are important to get ready for this particular open enrollment,” Patterson said Wednesday.

“There have been a number of different policy and political issues that have happened in the context of it.”

The state health exchange was created by the Colorado Legislature in 2011 to comply with President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

The exchange expects 55% of its customers who receive government financial help to be able to get individual coverage in 2020 for $50 a month or less.

During the enrollment period, those who earn up to about $50,000 annually — or a family of four with an annual income of up to $103,000 — can qualify for help with their coverage through the state insurance marketplace.

Patterson “active shopping” critical for customers. There are eight insurers offering a combined 130 health plans through the exchange next year.

“We want to make sure people are looking at their options, depending on how the math works for the advanced premium tax credit,” Patterson said.

He said the insurance marketplace’s revamped website has tools to help Coloradans figure out their best deal, based on how much they use it and the tax credits that are available, rather than simply allowing their coverage to renew passively.

Patterson talked about a revamp of the marketplace website, the first since its launch, “to make it easier for customers and our sister brokers to navigate,” based on what customers have searched for in the past.

Contact Joey Bunch at joey.bunch@coloradopolitics.com or follow him on Twitter @joeybunch.