Connect for Health Colorado says no taxpayer dollars. SB22-081 tells a different story

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project

Who is Connect for Health Colorado sponsoring?

I wanted to update an earlier CBS story and provide you yet another chance to speak up on issues around the state.

Let’s back up first. The first link below is to Connect for Health Colorado’s (CHC) website. As the image heading this post suggests, CHC is the state’s official health insurance marketplace.

CHC has been around for quite a while. It was created by a bill in 2011 as Colorado’s nonprofit, official marketplace where individuals and small business could get health insurance. It also connected people who qualified for some federal assistance, but perhaps not full paid insurance like Medicaid, to get some of that sweet, sweet government money.

Over time, due to changes by Obamacare and state legislation, CHC has expanded its offerings to include Colorado Option health plans and Omnisalud (insurance for illegal immigrants).

Begun with some federal grant money, CHC now mainly pays for itself by fees tacked onto the health insurance policies they sell.

When I asked their media spokesperson about sponsorships (more coming) I was told that CHC doesn’t run on any public money. Quoting from the email I received:

“Connect for Health Colorado does not receive funding through the state budget or taxpayer dollars. Its primary funding source is an administrative fee paid by insurance companies on each plan sold through the exchange, currently set at 3.5 percent of the annual premium.”

That’s not entirely accurate. While you won’t find any pictures of Jared Polis handing over a canvas sack with $$ on the front to someone from CHC, they do get their public funding via the back door. To wit, I point you to SB22-081 linked second below.

You are welcome to study the bill in more depth, but the long story short is that CHC got taxpayer money in the form of a financial two-step. Health insurers essentially buy tax credits from CHC. Under this bill, CHC took those proceeds in excess of $5 million (and any income earned from their investment) and put that to use.

Outright giving taxpayer money to CHC? No. This technicality let’s them claim what their spokesperson did. Remember, however, that health insurance companies NOT paying taxes (due to credits) means a loss of money in our state’s checking account, and it means less of your money back to you via TABOR. I’m sorry, but if you keep less of your money so CHC has more, it’s public money going to CHC.

What was this money for? The bill required this money go to an education campaign. Screenshot 1, from the bill’s fiscal note, spells out in detail what this campaign should be.

CHC has what could easily be called a “fraught” history with public money. Back in 2023, they were caught using public money to help sponsor public events for the political interest group ProgressNow.**

Nor was that the only questionable use of taxpayer money. Quoting from the third link below (a 2023 CBS article on the donations by CHC):

“Over the last couple years, it’s also sponsored a block party by the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, Pueblo Pride by Southern Colorado Equality Alliance, Transgender Day of Remembrance and the Changemakers Gala by the Young Invincibles, which was headed-up at the time by the wife of a democratic state representative who co-chairs the House Health and Insurance Committee.”

Despite saying he was “accountable” for the mixups, CHC CEO Kevin Patterson maintained his job at CHC, only to turn around and, per the 2025 CBS article linked fourth below, run afoul of another audit, again about who CHC is sponsoring with their mix of private and taxpayer dollars. 

Quoting from that later CBS article:

“Auditors say that, between 2023 and 2024, Connect for Health spent $468 thousand sponsoring 261 events. They looked at 49 of them, or 19% and didn’t find any political fundraisers, but they did find other issues. State law requires sponsorships further the exchange’s mission of increasing access to affordable health insurance, but auditors found that a third of the sponsorships didn’t appear to do that. It flagged a $5,000 donation for the Denver Zoo Flock Party, $7,500 for a United Way luncheon that featured an address by a famous actress, a winning bid of $2,500 to have dinner with a notable couple, and $12,000 for Court Appointed Special Advocates. Patterson’s wife was on the nonprofit’s board at the time.”

If you’re curious to see the state audit in full, I link to that fifth below. CEO Patterson, for his part, sings us all one of our favorite, old-time refrains:

“‘I think the problem entailed from that is the lack of documentation, lack of clear policies and procedures. And, so, we know we can do a better job with that,’ said Patterson.”

“‘The processes weren’t good. Oversight processes weren’t enough,’ says Patterson. ‘We own that. It’s important to note, though, that no funds were misused, but falling short of our public expectations is still falling short.'”

Long way getting here, but we’ve finally arrived. CHC does a fair bit of sponsoring with its money (they even have a special section on their website where you can fill out an online form to ask for money), and I thought an update to now might be in order. I reached out to their spokesperson with some questions, along with a request to see who CHC has sponsored in the current fiscal year. 

The sixth link below is what I got and it is the sponsorships up to 10/1/2026.

I will leave it to you to poke around in there and see if anything catches your eye. 

There were a few things that caught mine, but I’ll save that for the second post today where I discuss how sponsoring decisions are made by CHC and what to do if you don’t like them.

**As a nonprofit, a 501(c)(3) CHC is forbidden from donating to political advocacy groups or they will lose their nonprofit status. 

https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb22-081

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/colorados-health-care-exchange-donating-left-leaning-political-interest-groups/

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/audit-connect-health-colorado-finds-questionable-donations-purchases/

https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/audits/2465p_connect_for_health_colorado.pdf

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VhA1tzEk87g9WVuP0llnuGgiNJHMT2-e/view?usp=sharing

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

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