Colorado released聽聽on Friday, joining 13 states and the District of Columbia in making聽.
The state earlier made the call to be a clearinghouse exchange, rather than an active purchaser, and so, it has approved all 242 health plans submitted for sale on its marketplace, 聽 Thirteen carriers will offer 150 plans in the individual marketplace, and 92 for small businesses. The plans go on sale Oct. 1 for coverage that starts Jan. 1. Colorado also approved 299 plans for sale outside its exchange and prices for them.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very pleased with the number of carriers and plans,鈥� Deputy Insurance Commissioner Peg Brown told the Connect for Health board Monday. 鈥淚t represents a wide variety of choice 鈥� and healthy competition in the Colorado insurance marketplace overall,鈥� Brown said.
Members of the exchange board greeted Brown鈥檚 announcement with applause but did not comment further.
The rates came out 聽more than two weeks later than the state鈥檚 Division of Insurance had initially promised.
So where do the Colorado rates fall about whether prices on the exchanges are reasonable? It might be the rare 鈥渏ust right鈥� state.
Prices range from $135 a month on the low end to almost $1,000 a month for the most comprehensive coverage with some variation depending on a person鈥檚 age, where they live and whether they use tobacco.
The average price of an individual policy in Colorado now is about $200 a month, and there are a variety of plans near that average in the rates released Friday.
But Brown cautioned against comparing plans approved for next year to those currently available.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to note that these are new plans, and developed for new requirements in 2014. Consequently, any comparison to past or current plans would not be an apples-to-apples comparison,鈥� Brown said.
Prices will also be lower than listed for many people earning less than $46,000 a year, because they will qualify for subsidies to make insurance more affordable. The subsidies will be on a sliding scale, so people with 聽lower incomes will get larger subsidies.
The Division of Insurance released 聽for the new plans earlier this week. It shows that premiums for a 27-year-old non-smoker will range from $135.57 a month for the lowest-cost catastrophic coverage plan to $566.80 for 鈥減latinum鈥� level coverage in the individual market. Prices range from $183.72 to $662.32 a month in the small group market, which will not offer catastrophic nor platinum plans. A 40-year-old can expect to pay from $176.89 a month for a bronze plan on the individual market聽to聽$967.85 for a platinum policy in the small group market.
The greatest number of plans in Colorado鈥檚 exchange will be offered by聽not-for-profit Rocky Mountain HMO, with 52 individual and 30 small group offerings, followed by Kaiser Permanente, with 27 individual and 24 small group plans. (Kaiser Health News is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.)
People in cities will have more plans to choose from than those in rural areas, but all Coloradans will have several plans to choose from
For-profit carriers including Cigna, Anthem and Humana have far fewer plans. Cigna and Humana are offering 11 and seven聽individual plans, respectively, and none in the small business market. Anthem is offering two small business plans only. Colorado鈥檚 new health insurance cooperative,聽, established through the Affordable Care Act, will offer eight individual and聽six small business plans.
It is estimated that about 800,000 Coloradans are currently uninsured, about 15% of the state鈥檚 population.