Connect for Health Colorado, like several other official state-based health insurance marketplaces, has celebrated record open enrollment periods for five consecutive years. 

Now, that meaningful work is at risk. 

We find ourselves at a critical juncture, facing a significant threat to the Affordable Care Act and the 24 million Americans who rely on state-based health insurance marketplaces for access to affordable, quality health insurance. 

A federal reconciliation bill — passed by the U.S. House and now under Senate consideration — proposes sweeping changes that would jeopardize the progress we’ve made here and across the U.S. 

In Colorado alone, the reconciliation bill’s provisions could result in the loss of $620 million in tax credits to Coloradans and cause 112,000 people — 43% of those currently enrolled through Connect for Health Colorado — to lose coverage.

While much of the national conversation has focused on Medicaid cuts, the bill’s impact on state-based marketplaces must not be overlooked. 

The bill does not extend enhanced premium tax credits, ends silver loading (a pricing strategy that helps reduce costs), imposes new and unnecessary additional income verification requirements, and restricts access to affordable health insurance for lawfully present immigrants.

Each of these provisions would raise costs, reduce access, and place new administrative burdens on both individuals and state marketplaces. Coloradans could see net premiums more than double, with rural residents, older adults, and those with fluctuating incomes among the hardest hit.

The bill also limits long-standing state flexibility that has allowed state-based marketplaces the autonomy to make decisions that best meet the needs of our communities, and the people who rely on us to serve them. 

The State Marketplace Network has an overview of the reconciliation bill’s effects on marketplaces, and Connect for Health Colorado has shared a fact sheet about how the bill’s provisions could affect Coloradans. 

The numbers are alarming — and it’s important to remember, there are people behind the numbers. Families, children, workers, retirees, small business owners, our friends, our neighbors. 

For so many, the Affordable Care Act and the access created through state-based marketplaces have been more than a policy — they have been a lifeline. More than 300,000 Coloradans depend on it. 

The Affordable Care Act and state-based marketplaces have transformed access to affordable health insurance.

It’s important for Congress to protect the progress we’ve made, and strengthen our ability to provide health coverage to people who most depend on it. 

Take care, 

Kevin Patterson, MURP, MPA
Chief Executive Officer
Connect for Health Colorado