Elise Thatcher, Aspen Public Radio
“Health insurance in the Glenwood Springs area will go down by nearly ten percent next year. That’s on average, and it’s compared to an overall average increase of about one percent across Colorado. State officials gave final approval for the lower rates this week. This comes after concerns about especially high insurance in the Roaring Fork Valley, and an earlier flawed attempt to let consumers review rates beforehand.
Adela Flores-Brennan is Executive Director with the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to affordable health care. The group is cautiously optimistic. “This is a really positive signal. I don’t think we want to get ahead of ourselves, but it’s certainly something that we want to continue to watch.”
Flores Brennan says state insurance officials did a good job of tackling a thorny issue. Because of the way the state had designated rate-pricing regions in Colorado, insurance prices in the Roaring Fork Valley and other mountain areas have been much higher compared to the rest of Colorado. “The division took steps to reach out to consumers and redo the rating areas, in some of the more expensive areas of the state, and it looks like there will be reductions in those rates.””
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