By Tamera Sakotas
After working for the school district for several years, I lost my job due to budget cuts. At the time my husband and son were also on my health plan. Of course, I was very, very concerned that I would be unable to afford a health plan that served us all as well as the one I had at the time with Kaiser. During my time working for Denver Public Schools, my employer paid $380 for my heath insurance costs and I paid over $800 a month for just my husband and my son. The overall monthly cost for health care before Connect for Colorado came into my life was upwards of $1150 per month. 
Reluctantly, I called Connect for Health Colorado to investigate my options. The customer service representative on the phone was incredibly patient with me and guided me through the various pages on their website. Ultimately, she led me to a plan that was nearly identical to the plan I previously had.
With the new plan, I was able to keep our provider and our doctors. The only real difference was that the cost for all three of us was only $634, nearly half the cost of health care before. Plus, our family deductible went from $7000 a year to $3000 a year. And on top of it all, my two-year-old son now has dental coverage at no additional cost.
I know it sounds cliché, but I cried on the phone with the lady that day. I was so overwhelmingly relieved that I actually cried. I feel very blessed that there are now systems out there constructed to help families like mine. I am grateful that families like ours can secure high quality health coverage at an affordable rate. Thank you, Connect for Health Colorado.
See Tamera, and other Coloradan’s stories in our Full Exposure series. Do you have a story about how health care has impacted your life? We want to know. Go to cohealth.co/costories to share.