October 15th, 2019 – As we close in on the final days before open enrollment for 2020  re-opens on November 1st, Colorado’s Division of Insurance released the rates for individual health insurance plans for the new year.

We knew the rates were going to go down, thanks to Colorado’s new reinsurance program, which pays a portion of high-cost claims.  While we knew rural Colorado would get some much needed relief from past premium increases, we were pleasantly surprised to see significant premium decreases for individual health insurance premiums in the front range and western slope metro areas as well.

You can see the premium decreases by medal level and county here, but average premium decreases in metro-Denver typically ranged from 15 to 20%. Average premium decreases went down 17% in Boulder, 17.6% in Colorado Springs, 21.7% in Fort Collins  and 28.2% in Grand Junction.  Many rural counties saw average premium decreases of 27-29%, whereas Summit County had an average decrease of 34%.

More good news that Colorado had the same 7 insurance companies that offered plans in the individual market returning, plus a new insurance company, called Oscar Health.  So, there will be eight companies offering 130 health insurance plans in Colorado.  While that’s encouraging, many of those companies are still limiting their plans to metro Denver or the front range, so there’s still a need for more competition in rural Colorado, where thankfully Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield is still offering plans.