5% of eligible NoCo population enrolled in exchange in first months

In the first three months of the enrollment period for Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s health-insurance exchange, statistically about 4.9 percent of the eligible population in Northern Colorado signed up for coverage via the exchange.

Enrollment numbers can’t be compared to the population as a whole because not everyone is eligible for coverage purchased on the exchange, according to Ben Davis, spokesperson for Connect for Health Colorado.

The population of both counties as of 2012 was 574,178, but only about one in five Colorado residents meets the eligibility requirements to purchase a plan using the exchange, Davis said.

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Applying that statistic to Northern Colorado, about 119,835 people in Northern Colorado are eligible for the exchange. Data from Connect for Health Colorado show that in Larimer and Weld counties combined, 5,921 people signed up through the exchange from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, or about 4.9 percent of the eligible population.

In Larimer County, 3,512 people enrolled via the exchange in the first three months, while 2,409 enrolled from Weld County.

In order to be eligible to purchase a plan on the exchange, an individual or family must not have another insurance plan, including TRICARE or Medicare, must not be eligible for public health coverage such as Medicaid or Child Health Plan Plus, and must not have access to affordable coverage through an employer.

Affordable coverage in this sense is defined as insurance that costs less than 9.5 percent of a household’s income.

“About 80 percent of Coloradans are covered through other sources, mainly employers or Medicare, and would not be our customers,” Davis said.

More enrollments have occurred since the end of 2013, but county-level data for the month of January are not yet available. Statewide through the end of January, 69,627 people have enrolled in coverage through the exchange, up from 52,783 at the end of December.

The open-enrollment period for the exchange ends March 31.