Newly Insured Begin Seeking Care: An Update on Colorado's Enrollment

According to Modern Healthcare, health systems are reporting a flood of phone calls as newly insured patients start seeking care. Approximately 2.1 Americans have signed up for insurance through an exchange, and another 3.9 million qualified for Medicaid, according to Health and Human Services. The roll-out has been uneven across the country, depending largely on the investment each state has made in setting up and promoting its own insurance exchange or whether it defaulted to the federal marketplace. Read the rest of the article here. 

Colorado's exchange, Connect for Health Colorado (C4HCO) achieved a total of 52,783 Coloradans signing up for health insurance on Colorado's marketplace between October 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Most of these enrollees began receiving health insurance benefits on January 1st of this year. October and November had a slow but steady pace of enrollees, then December saw a boom in enrollments. For example, on December 23, 2013, the final day of enrollment for coverage starting on January 1st, 5,354 people enrolled in just one day. Open enrollment continues through March 31st of this year. 

On the public insurance side, 86,432 Coloradans have successfully enrolled in Medicaid since October 1, 2013. “The enrollments in Medicaid and Connect for Health Colorado show that Coloradans are becoming more aware of the importance of having health insurance coverage,” said Susan Birch, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. “Whether Coloradans have health insurance coverage through private insurance or through Medicaid, health coverage is the first step to better health.