Colorado is the state where I'm most likely to tell you to stay on the exchange. Here's why, and when that changes.
I'll be straight about Colorado, because it's genuinely different from most of the states I work in — and different in a direction that often favors the Marketplace.
Colorado requires carriers to offer Colorado Option plans — standardized designs available only through Connect for Health Colorado, the state's own marketplace. They carry $0 copays for primary care, mental health visits, diabetic supplies, and prenatal and postnatal care, before you've met a deductible.
Colorado shoppers have noticed. About half of all Colorado marketplace enrollees chose a Colorado Option plan for 2026. And starting in 2026, the Colorado Division of Insurance caps Colorado Option premium increases at the medical inflation rate — a structural brake most states don't have.
Colorado's individual market still absorbed a weighted average gross increase of more than 21% for 2026 when the enhanced credits expired. But it landed below the roughly 30% seen across healthcare.gov states, and roughly 65% of Colorado enrollees still qualify for some financial help.
This is the fact that surprises people. Colorado technically permits short-term policies with six-month initial terms — but insurers don't sell them here. There is effectively no short-term product to buy.
So the bridge strategy that works in Florida or Georgia simply isn't available to a Coloradan. If you're between jobs in Colorado, your realistic options are COBRA, a Marketplace plan through a special enrollment period, or a spouse's plan. I'd rather tell you that up front than have you spend two weeks looking for something that doesn't exist.
Unlike Florida, Texas, and Georgia, Colorado expanded Medicaid, so there's no coverage gap for adults below the poverty line. Health First Colorado covers adults up to 138% of the federal poverty level. If your income is low, that's a real path here rather than a dead end.
Premium tax credits still end above $62,600 for one person and $128,600 for a household of four. Above that line, Coloradans pay full price like everyone else.
Even so, Colorado is the state where I'm least likely to recommend leaving the exchange. Standardized Option designs with $0 primary care and mental health copays are hard to beat on value, the rate-cap mechanism limits future increases, and there's no short-term market to fall back on. If you're a healthy high earner who wants the lowest possible premium and a broad national network, there's still a comparison worth running — but in Colorado it's genuinely closer than elsewhere, and sometimes the exchange wins.
That's a less profitable answer for me. It's the accurate one for Colorado.
The Colorado Division of Insurance maintains a public producer lookup. My NPN is 21388659.
A 20-minute call: household, income, health history, the doctors and prescriptions you can't lose. Then I price the unsubsidized Marketplace option against whatever non-Marketplace options exist in your state, verify networks and formularies before recommending anything, and tell you which I'd choose and why.
It costs you nothing. Brokers are paid a commission by the carrier, built into the premium whether you use one or not — enroll direct and the carrier simply keeps it. There's a fuller explanation, plus my NPN, on the licensing page.
One thing worth being direct about: the non-Marketplace plans I work with are medically underwritten and not ACA-compliant. The application asks about your health history, coverage can be declined or limited based on it, and pre-existing conditions may be excluded. In exchange you get a lower premium, a real maximum out-of-pocket, and usually a broader network. If you're managing an ongoing condition, an ACA plan's guaranteed coverage is often worth more than the premium difference — and I'll tell you that even though it's the less profitable answer for me.
A set of standardized health plan designs that carriers must offer through Connect for Health Colorado, featuring $0 copays for primary care, mental health visits, diabetic supplies, and prenatal and postnatal care. About half of Colorado marketplace enrollees selected a Colorado Option plan for 2026, and beginning in 2026 the Division of Insurance caps Colorado Option premium increases at the medical inflation rate.
In practice, no. Colorado technically permits six-month initial terms, but insurers do not offer short-term plans in the state. Coloradans between jobs generally choose between COBRA, a Marketplace plan through a special enrollment period, or a spouse's plan.
Less often than in most states. The standardized Colorado Option plans offer strong value with $0 primary care and mental health copays, the state caps Option premium increases at medical inflation, and there is no short-term market as a fallback. A healthy high earner wanting the lowest premium and a broad national network may still find a better fit off-exchange, but in Colorado the comparison is genuinely close.
Licensed in Colorado and 28 other states as Rohr Health Advisors LLC. See the full list and verify the license, or start with the situation that matches yours.
Twenty minutes. Both markets priced side by side for your household.
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