A record number of Coloradans enrolled in health insurance through the state’s marketplace in 2025. 

Connect for Health Colorado’s annual report indicated that 296,449 people purchased a plan through the marketplace in 2025, a 19% increase from the 2024 enrollment period. 

The largest increases in enrollment came from rural parts of the state, including in Colorado Western Slope counties, where the rate of uninsured individuals has historically been the highest in the state, according to annual Colorado Health Access Surveys. 

In Summit County, enrollment increased by 5.5% from 2024 to 2025.

Kevin Patterson, chief executive officer of Connect for Health Colorado, said in a statement that this was its “biggest enrollment period ever.” 

Connect for Health Colorado provides options and financial assistance for individuals and small employers (those with 99 or fewer employees) purchasing health insurance. The marketplace had 143 health insurance plans from six providers: Anthem, Cigna, Denver Health, Kaiser Permanente, Rocky Mountain Health Plans and Select Health.

According to the 2023 Colorado Health Access Survey, around 5% of Coloradans statewide purchase their plan individually. Around 50% are enrolled in an employer-sponsored plan, 30% in Medicaid and 10% in Medicare. In the counties along the I-70 mountain corridor — Eagle, Garfield, Grand, Pitkin and Summit counties — closer to 9% purchase an individual plan, with 45% getting it through their employer. 

These counties have historically had the highest uninsurance rates in Colorado, with an estimated 12.6% lacking any health insurance coverage. Statewide, around 4.5% of the population has no health insurance. 

For those uninsured in the I-70 mountain corridor, cost was reportedly the primary reason individuals did not have coverage. 

While Colorado has been making policy changes to reduce the cost of health insurance premiums — including a reinsurance program to subsidize high-cost claims for insurers and its Colorado Option program — plans purchased through Connect for Health Colorado increased by an average of 5.6% in 2025 with an average increase of around 7% for small employers. 

However, according to the Connect for Health Colorado 2025 report, around 80% of those enrolled in 2025 qualified for financial support. With financial assistance, the average premium of enrollees was $138, down from $470 for those without any assistance.  

The financial assistance includes the federal tax credits created by the American Rescue Plan and continued with the Inflation Reduction Act. In 2025, the total amount returned to customers as tax credits grew by nearly 46%, reaching $972,558,880, according to the annual report. 

Without federal legislative action, these credits — which are used at higher rates in Colorado’s rural communities — are set to expire at the end of this year.  

The state also built out Colorado Option plans in 2023 to create a lower-cost option for individuals and small employers. In 2025, the majority (65%) of customers purchasing through Connect for Health chose a Colorado Option Plan.