More than six weeks after the most costly blaze in Colorado’s history, many victims of the Marshall fire are facing the next uphill battle: Insurance recovery. It’s been well established that many residents are underinsured or not insured at all. This comes with its own challenges, largely met by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But […]
Division of Insurance
Posted inHealth, News
Colorado will be first in the U.S. to require comprehensive health coverage for gender-affirming services
Colorado will become the first state in the country to require certain health care plans to cover comprehensive health services for transgender people, the state and federal governments announced Tuesday. The state will also add two more required benefits for those plans: an annual mental health wellness exam and prescription coverage for treatments that are […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Colorado Democrats’ health care bill seeks to reduce insurance premiums. No one is sure exactly how.
Colorado Democrats’ big-swing effort at reforming the state’s health care industry squeaked through its toughest test yet on Wednesday. In the 4-3 party-line vote to clear the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, only one Democrat on the committee gave full-throated support to House Bill 1232, which seeks to reduce insurance premiums for a subset […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Colorado Democrats’ big health insurance bill may deliver the nation’s lowest premiums. But much is still unclear.
In 2014, a thunderbolt struck the normally un-sizzling world of Colorado health policy: A report from the nationally respected Kaiser Family Foundation discovered that Western Slope resort communities had the highest prices for health insurance in the country. What followed was more than five years of work by lawmakers to lower costs, culminating this year […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Politics and Government
Health care coverage for more than a half-million Coloradans at stake in Obamacare fight at Supreme Court
When the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on Tuesday over the future of the Affordable Care Act, billions of dollars a year and coverage for hundreds of thousands of people in Colorado will hang in the balance. But some of the law’s most famous and popular consumer protections — such as protections for people with […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News, Politics and Government
Coronavirus is a historic health crisis. So why isn’t it increasing Colorado health insurance prices?
Amid a historic public health crisis, something curious has happened with health insurance prices: Nothing. When state officials this month unveiled the approved rates for next year’s health insurance plans, they announced the smallest change in years. Average prices for plans in the individual market — where people shop for insurance if they don’t get […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado Democrats just proposed an enormous change to how health insurance programs are funded
In a budget-panicked, coronavirus-interrupted legislative session that has already seen major proposals for how health insurance should work in the state come and go, Colorado lawmakers have just proposed another massive change. Senate Bill 215 would create a new fee on the health insurance premiums paid by close to a million people in the state. […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado is extending its special health insurance enrollment period because so many are rushing to get coverage
Several thousand Coloradans have signed up for health insurance during a special open-enrollment period created in response to the new coronavirus, but time is running out to get coverage right away. Friday is the last day of the open-enrollment window for people who are currently uninsured but who want to buy coverage that will work […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado directs insurers to waive co-pays for people seeking coronavirus tests. But only if they meet testing criteria.
Gov. Jared Polis’ administration is directing Colorado health insurers regulated by the state to waive co-pays, deductibles and other charges for anyone who visits a doctor, urgent care center or hospital to seek a coronavirus test in what is one of the state’s first executive actions to date in response to the outbreak. But the […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Politics and Government
$10,000-a-day fines and other things to know about Colorado’s new public health insurance option bill
After months of debate, numerous reports and an opposition advertising campaign, Colorado lawmakers on Thursday officially introduced the bill that would create a public health insurance option in the state. Many of the details remain the same from earlier proposals — the option plans would be available at first only to people who buy coverage […]