FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: Jan 21, 2026
CONTACT: Priya Telang
Consumer advocates view health insurance enrollments with caution; Coloradans keeping coverage only due to State help while GOP drives ACA into the ground
DENVER – Today Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s ACA marketplace, announced that approximately 2% fewer Colorado families and small businesses enrolled for health insurance coverage this year with a total of 277,228 enrolling. However, Connect for Health Colorado noted an 83% increase in the number of people who are canceling their plans compared to last year.
The smaller-than-expected falloff is due to a key factor: Colorado’s work to support health insurance affordability. Last August, during a special session, Colorado lawmakers voted to fund supplemental support for families and individuals who buy insurance through the marketplace. Without the premium assistance Colorado has provided for 2026, it was projected that nearly 75,000 Coloradans would be priced out of their health coverage altogether. Without legislative action, the premium assistance Colorado is providing will diminish or disappear in 2027.
With the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits (EPTCs) at the end of 2025, health insurance premiums have increased an average 100% for ACA marketplace coverage and 200% or higher in some rural areas of the state.
The GOP-led Congress and the President have ignored voters and refused to extend the EPTCs, and have proposed an alternative, less effective health care plan for consumers. The House recently passed a “clean” 3-year EPTC extension, with Representative Jeff Hurd (R-CD3) voting yes alongside 16 other Republicans. Republican proposals in the Senate would make coverage more unaffordable and be much harder to implement, costing taxpayers millions in administrative burden, with worse options for health coverage.
Adam Fox, Deputy Director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, released the following statement:
Our state was able to step in and help Colorado families while Republicans in Congress failed to extend the ePTCs, but it doesn’t make up for that failure. Many families and small businesses are being forced to choose between paying much higher premiums to stay covered and other necessities, like food, rent, childcare, and medicine. We’re concerned more Coloradans will drop coverage as they struggle to afford their premiums.
In addition, large cuts to Medicaid from HR1 are coming, forcing devastating decisions in Colorado’s budget. Between last year and this year alone, Colorado will have had to address more than $2.5 billion in gaps created by HR1 combined with TABOR constraints.
Senate Republicans must act now to pass the House’s “clean” 3-year extension to protect coverage and affordability for millions of Americans. Colorado cannot afford to lose the enhanced tax credits and Coloradans cannot afford Republican cuts to both the ACA and Medicaid.
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Colorado Consumer Health Initiative is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, membership-based group advocating for equitable access to high-quality, affordable health care. CCHI serves Coloradans whose access to health care and financial security are compromised by structural barriers, affordability, poor benefits, or unfair business practices of the health care industry.