Colorado Health Insurance Help for People Who Buy Their Own Coverage

Reviewed by Steve Turner, CLU, REBC · Colorado License 968569 · NPN 18030539 · November 2026

I’m Steve Turner, a licensed health insurance agent and broker, and I’m licensed in Colorado and certified with Connect for Health Colorado. My office is in Tampa, Florida, and I work with Colorado clients from the Front Range to the Western Slope by phone, video, and secure e-signature. Insurance companies pay my commission, so my help costs you nothing, and you pay the same premium you’d pay if you bought directly.

Colorado does more than most states to keep individual coverage affordable. It runs its own Marketplace, adds its own subsidies on top of the federal ones, and requires insurers to sell lower-cost Colorado Option plans. Those extras only help if you pick the right plan, so here’s how it works.

Colorado’s Marketplace: Connect for Health Colorado

Coloradans don’t use HealthCare.gov. Individual and family plans are sold through Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s own marketplace, and that’s the only place to get federal and state financial help.

• 2027 open enrollment: November 1, 2026 to January 15, 2027. Enroll by December 15 for coverage starting January 1. Enroll after that and coverage starts February 1.
• Premiums are up about 10% on average for 2027, before financial help. It depends where you live: about 9.7% around Colorado Springs, 10.8% in Denver, 12% in Boulder, and 15.5% in Grand Junction.
• Cigna is leaving. It stops selling individual plans after 2026, so Cigna customers need a new plan for January 1. Colorado Access is new in 14 counties, which brings the state to seven insurers.
• Don’t let your plan auto-renew without comparing. Networks and prices change every year, and last year’s lowest-cost plan may not be this year’s.

Colorado’s extra help: state subsidies and the Colorado Option

• Colorado Premium Assistance is state money that lowers premiums for eligible Connect for Health Colorado customers, on top of any federal tax credit. It continues for 2027. The extra federal help ended after 2025, so this matters more than it used to.
• Colorado Option plans are standardized Bronze, Silver, and Gold plans that every insurer must offer in the counties it serves. They come with $0 primary care and mental health visits. They aren’t always the cheapest, so I compare them with everything else.
• OmniSalud offers coverage to Coloradans who can’t use the regular Marketplace because of immigration status. Spaces are limited, and for 2027 these plans carry a small monthly premium instead of being free.

I’ll run the numbers for your household with every credit you qualify for, then show what each plan would really cost you each month.

Health First Colorado and CHP+

Colorado expanded Medicaid, which it calls Health First Colorado, so many lower-income adults qualify, not just parents and people with disabilities. CHP+ covers children and pregnant people in families that earn too much for Health First Colorado. If you or your kids qualify for either, I’ll tell you, because that’s usually better than anything I can sell you.

How working with me from Tampa works

• Phone or video, seven days a week: 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mountain.
• Nothing to print. You review and sign everything electronically.
• Network first. Before we talk price, I confirm your doctors, hospital, and prescriptions are covered. Networks differ a lot between the Front Range and the mountains.
• I stay your agent after you enroll for billing issues, claims, income changes, and moves.

Colorado questions

Can I use HealthCare.gov? No. Colorado runs its own marketplace, so financial-help Colorado plans are available only through Connect for Health Colorado, directly or through a certified broker.

I have Cigna. What happens on January 1? Cigna is leaving Colorado’s individual market after 2026, so your plan won’t renew. Choose a new plan by December 15 to avoid a coverage gap.

You’re in Florida. Can you really help me in Colorado? Yes. I’m licensed by the Colorado Division of Insurance (license 968569), certified with Connect for Health Colorado, and work with Colorado clients by phone, video, and e-signature. You can verify my license before we talk.

Talk with Steve

Call or text (813) 388-8373, seven days a week, 7 a.m.–8 p.m. Eastern (5 a.m.–6 p.m. Mountain), or book a call.

Related: Individual & family health insurance · All areas we serve