Colorado insurance division warns of 28% hike—Democrats blame Congress, not policy

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics

Health insurance for the individual market in Colorado could increase by 28% for 2026, according to the Colorado Division of Insurance.

And the rate for the Western Slope could be even higher, averaging as much as 38%, the division said on Wednesday.

Rate filings will become public on Friday.

The division attributed the above-average increases to President Donald Trump’s federal tax bill, recently passed by Congress. “These circumstances are not unique to Colorado, and other states will likely have similar increases,” the division said in a statement Wednesday.

The driver for those increases is the loss of financial assistance that helps people afford health insurance, and which also puts downward pressure on premium rates. That assistance will expire on Dec. 31, and its impact will be felt immediately by 321,000 Coloradans, the division said.

Average premium increases were at 5.6% in 2025, 9.7% in 2024, 10.4% in 2023 and 1.1% in 2022, the division said.

“We have been warning folks that the chaos being caused by the federal government for our health insurance markets was going to create real pain for Coloradans,” said Michael Conway, commissioner of insurance.

Those premium increases will hit the mountain areas, the rural counties and the Western Slope the hardest, with average increases approaching 40%. “The sad reality is that many of those folks will be forced to gamble with their health because they simply cannot afford these rate increases caused by the federal government,” Conway added.

Gov. Jared Polis noted that high premium increases were observed during the first Trump administration. “Tragically, Congress is kicking people off their health care and has created chaos that is going to cost Coloradans money,” the governor said.

Some of the rate increases are tied to the loss of federal financial assistance for the state’s reinsurance program, which buys down the cost of health insurance. Reinsurance covers the highest medical expenses for health insurance companies through a fee paid by the insurance companies, which is then pooled and matched with federal dollars.

The loss of funding for the reinsurance program is expected to result in a 40% reduction in the program’s impact in 2026, the division stated.

However, even without the loss of those federal dollars, the division said, premiums were expected to increase by 20% in 2026.

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