To Our Valued Stakeholders,

It’s hard to believe that it is technically still summer with the weather we’ve had this week. Seems like 2020 will keep throwing us curve balls!

But, as the temperatures may be changing outside, that means one thing for us: Open Enrollment planning is heating up.

Every year, we set aside time to gather with our brokers, assisters, community partners, county staff, advocacy organizations and other stakeholders to exchange ideas, get up to speed on any training and resources we all need for the Open Enrollment Period and network with each other.

Last year, we took this conference on the road, and this year, we are taking it to a virtual space. The CoverCO 2020 conference is scheduled for Oct. 6-8. Join us to reconnect, engage in community discussions and exchange ideas to improve the health and well-being of Coloradans. This year’s keynote speaker is Portia Jackson Preston, and she will speak about the culture of self-care and resiliency in the work we do. Register now if you plan to join us.  

Thank you for your support in getting ready for another Open Enrollment Period.

Hope you all stay healthy and well!

Be well,

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

To Our Valued Stakeholders,
One of Connect for Health Colorado’s strategic goals is to advocate to improve access to coverage in rural areas of Colorado. Generally, every year around this time, I hit the road and visit many rural communities around the state to hear updates from communities and share insights about the upcoming Open Enrollment Period.

This year, the challenges of face-to-face visits are leading me to have these conversations virtually. I’m thankful for the opportunity to still “see” our partners, community leaders and local policy makers outside of Denver. Last week, I spoke with the Western & Rural Colorado Health Care Coalition, and in the next few weeks, I will be presenting to the Mountain Family Health Centers Board and leadership, the Mesa County Health Leadership Consortium, Colorado Healthcare Strategy & Management, and other groups.

Through these presentations and conversations, I am sharing my thoughts about the role of Connect for Health during and after the pandemic, how we’re partnering with state agencies to reach people who’ve lost their job and need coverage, and setting the stage for the upcoming Open Enrollment Period, which is quickly approaching!

On the National Front
I also spoke at a conference hosted by the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) to share how we’re proactively engaged in our state’s response to health policy and finding innovative ways to reach new customers. You can watch the panel here.

Hope you all stay healthy and well!

Be well,

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

To Our Valued Stakeholders,

We’re just about three months from the next Open Enrollment Period, and this week, the Division of Insurance released preliminary rate filings for the 2021 Plan Year. I made a statement that I am encouraged by the stability that these preliminary health insurance plan prices suggest we will see next year.

Behind the scenes, Connect for Health Colorado staff are diving into our preparations for Open Enrollment. We’ve posted two new Request for Proposals – one for our media buying services and one for staffing vendors for staff augmentation – and have a few staff positions open. Thank you for passing these opportunities on to interested and qualified parties.

Congratulations to Our New Chief Human Resources and Training Officer

I’m also pleased to share the news that I’ve added another member to the C-level of our organization. Nyle Boyd has been promoted to the executive leadership team as the Chief Human Resources and Training Officer. I thank Nyle for her years of tremendous service to this organization, and appreciate her stepping into this new role.

Be well,

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

To Our Valued Stakeholders,

The heat of summer is upon us — I hope you are finding ways to stay cool while staying healthy.

This week, I visited (virtually) with Club 20 members and was thrilled to share recent news from the Division of Insurance that more Coloradans will have a choice in insurance companies during this Open Enrollment Period, as the state has decreased the number of counties with only one issuer from 22 to 10. This is an improvement in choice for many of Colorado’s rural communities.

Getting the word out about Special Enrollment Periods

We know that job loss in Colorado is at an all-time high and with that comes loss of job-based health insurance. To help get the word out about getting covered through Connect for Health Colorado, our Marketing team created an online Job Loss Toolkit for you to use. The toolkit includes electronic versions of a short flyer, our overview brochure (both in English and Spanish), our financial help chart, social media images and copy, and a 10 minute video about health insurance options after job loss. I’d ask that you share the link with your networks as you see fit.

Be well,

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

To Our Valued Stakeholders,

As summer sets in and the heat is rising, I’ve taken a step back to reflect on the how we’ve been forwarding our mission in a new remote world.

We’ve supported the community by sponsoring remote events, such as Denver Pride’s Virtual 5k. Our Assistance Network Team recently completed 17 virtual site visits, with an eye toward how we plan for a more remote Open Enrollment come November. Our Policy Team remained actively involved during the condensed end to our legislative session, which included online submission of our testimony in support of two bills that ultimately passed.

Our staff is spending time considering what the rest of the year’s event itinerary might look like, including how we will run the CoverCo conference and my annual visits across the state. We will update you as these events get closer, and as we develop creative ways to accomplish our work with you remotely.

New Laws Will Forward Our Mission

As I’ve mentioned in my last few posts, we are thrilled that Colorado continues to innovate on solutions to provide Coloradans access to affordable health coverage. I shared my thoughts on two bills that Governor Polis signed into law this week.

We’ve already begun internal conversations on implementation for these two new laws, and we look forward to collaborating with several partners in the weeks and months to come. On that note, our Board of Directors has opened the application process for the Easy Enrollment committee. Please share this application with those who are interested and qualified.

Stay healthy and well, Kevin Patterson, MURP, MPA
Chief Executive Officer
Connect for Health Colorado

To Our Valued Stakeholders,

Colorado policymakers wrapped up an active and unprecedented legislative session earlier this week. Since the session was interrupted because of the COVID-19 outbreak, most of the policy work these last three weeks was focused on the state budget and bills related to the current crisis.

However, Connect for Health Colorado had the opportunity to be involved in two bills that will forward our mission to provide access, affordability and choice for Coloradans purchasing health insurance.

I shared with you previously that House Bill 1236, known as “Easy Enrollment,” will allow Coloradans to mark on their state tax return that they are uninsured and opt-in for their information to be shared with Connect for Health Colorado, so we can see if they qualify for financial help or Health First Colorado (Medicaid).

On the last day of the session on Monday, Senate Bill 215, the Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise, also passed. The bill protects and expands financial help for health coverage, which is in line with our mission to increase access, affordability and choice. I released a statement about what this means for Coloradans, and how we will be involved in removing barriers to access for Coloradans.

The Affordability Enterprise will:

• Fund the reinsurance program.
• Provide financial help to people whose net premium would increase as the individual market price for insurance decreases.
• Set up a fund to provide financial help to people who do not otherwise qualify under Affordable Care Act rules (e.g. households who are not qualified because of the “family glitch”).

We will work with several partners to advise on implementation of both bills.

I’m thrilled that through these unique times, Colorado continues to be an innovator and national leader at finding solutions to our health care needs.

Stay healthy and well,

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

To Our Valued Stakeholders,

Colorado lawmakers went back to work this week. Who knew that we would be talking about the current legislative session in late May? But as you know, the COVID 19 outbreak has changed many things this year.

One bill that our Board of Directors took a support stance on earlier this year has passed its second reading on the Senate floor. House Bill 1236, known as “Easy Enrollment,” would allow Coloradans to mark on their state tax return that they are uninsured and opt-in for their information to be shared with Connect for Health Colorado, so we can see if they qualify for financial help or Health First Colorado (Medicaid). The goal of this bill is to reduce the number of Coloradans who are uninsured, particularly those eligible for financial help. Easy Enrollment would make it easier for Coloradans who have lost employer-sponsored insurance to connect to coverage options on our Marketplace.

We will continue to monitor any health policy bills that could affect our mission.

Helping those who have recently lost job coverage

Thank you for your continued help getting out the message to the many Coloradans who have recently lost their employer health coverage that we are here to help. Most of these folks likely qualify for a Special Enrollment Period and there may be quite a few Coloradans coming to us for the first time. As a reminder, we have certified enrollment experts who are taking virtual appointments and can help get them enrolled.

Stay healthy and well,

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

To Our Valued Stakeholders,

Earlier this week, we announced that 14,263 Coloradans enrolled in health insurance during our COVID Special Enrollment Period.

I never thought we would be announcing a number that high. And for that, I wanted to say thank you. It took our staff — and you — our stakeholders, community partners, advocates, policy makers and the media, to get the word out, and our network of enrollment partners taking virtual and phone appointments, to make it all happen.

I know our work isn’t done in making sure share information about job-loss and loss of income Special Enrollment Periods. As we make the transition from closing out the COVID SEP, we still need your help letting Coloradans in these circumstances know that we are here for them.

By the Numbers Report
At our Board Meeting this week, we shared our By the Numbers report, which gives insight into our seventh Open Enrollment Period. The report highlights data and numbers for the 2020 plan year, including:

• 166,850 Coloradans enrolled for 2020 health coverage during the Open Enrollment period.
• 74 percent of customers qualified for financial help to reduce the monthly cost of health insurance.
• Statewide rates for full price premiums dropped by 20 percent, which lead to an uptick in new enrollments in many rural counties.
• 46 percent of our customers enrolled with the help of a trained and certified Broker,  and another 6 percent enrolled with the help of a community-based Assister.

The new report includes more detailed information about changes to premium costs and financial help by county, the improved customer experience and our outreach tactics. It is a nice wrap-up of our work, which many of you contribute to, so I hope you enjoy reading it.

Stay healthy and well,

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

To Our Valued Stakeholders,

As we enter a new month, it’s a good time to reflect and be reminded of the reason we do this work.

When we opened our COVID Special Enrollment Period on March 20, no one knew how this health crisis would affect Coloradans. We thought a few weeks would be enough to reach out to the uninsured.

Thanks to many of you, and specially our colleagues in Adams County, as the first deadline of April 3 neared, you stressed that we needed more time. So, we extended the deadline, and just closed that COVID Special Enrollment Period yesterday. (We’ll share our final numbers in the coming weeks.)

In this time of a global pandemic, doing things from home, online and over the phone, Connect for Health Colorado staff, our network of certified brokers and assisters and our Customer Service Center reps were able to bring peace of mind to Coloradans who didn’t have health insurance. It also took many of you to help us spread the word far and wide that Coloradans could get enrolled during this time.

Seeing all of us come together to get Coloradans covered is a shared win for the state.

We understand that there will be more Coloradans experiencing a job loss or losing income in the months ahead. We remain ready to help them get covered, and continue to ask that you share the news that they have a 60-day Special Enrollment Period available to them.

In the News
I joined Deidre Johnson from the Center for African American Health in a Facebook Live conversation about our Special Enrollment Period. Denver’s Channel7 also helped us spread the word.

Take care,

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

To Our Valued Stakeholders,

This week, we announced that we’ve enrolled more than 10,000 Coloradans through our COVID Special Enrollment period.

Along with your help, we’ve been working to get the news out about this opportunity to get covered as well as other ways Coloradans may be eligible to enroll now.

We recently shared with our Board of Directors our marketing efforts, including digital and earned media. In addition, our public affairs manager appeared on State Representative Shannon Bird’s virtual town hall/Facebook Live this week.  

I urge you to encourage residents who are uninsured to sign up before the April 30 deadline. With just about a week left in the COVID Special Enrollment period, we know there are more people out there who need coverage and want to make sure those in need can get enrolled.

Our certified enrollment experts are taking phone appointments and our Customer Service Center is available to answer questions.

For those losing job-based coverage, they do have the traditional 60-day window as well. We’ve been added to the Colorado Department of Labor’s new site as a resource for this population.

Stay healthy and well, and thanks again for continuing to let your constituents and communities know that we are here to help.

Take care,

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