July 17, 2024 10:59 AM UTC

Whoa! Reinsurance Program Will Save Coloradans $477 Million in 2025

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• by: Colorado Pols

Democrats in the state legislature passed a landmark bill in 2019 creating a reinsurance program intended to help reduce health care costs for Coloradans — an effective solution to a problem that Jared Polis campaigned on heavily when running for Governor in 2018.

Thanks to that legislation, health care premiums in Colorado DECREASED for the first time in state history in 2020. By 2022, average health care premiums in Colorado were 24% lower than when Gov. Polis took office in 2019.

According to a press release from the Governor’s office, those savings are now approaching HALF A BILLION DOLLARS in 2025:

Today, Governor Polis and the Department of Regulatory Agencies’ (DORA) Division of Insurance (DOI), announced health insurance plans and premium savings for Coloradans in 2025 thanks to Colorado’s landmark reinsurance program. Coloradans will save $477 million on premiums and avoid a nearly 23% premium increase, which would occur if reinsurance did not exist.

“Reinsurance savings help make healthcare more affordable for all Coloradans, keeping more of their hard-earned money in their pockets to save or spend. Colorado is leading the nation in saving people money on healthcare and the $477 million Coloradans will save on premiums in 2025 proves that what we are doing in Colorado is starting to work, and that we need to continue pushing hard to save people money on healthcare,” said Governor Polis.

On average, individual market insurance premiums would be 23% higher in 2025 without Reinsurance and that is simply an average. In many counties in the western half of Colorado, premiums would be more than 40% higher without Reinsurance. In Mesa County, premiums would be 43% higher if Reinsurance wasn’t in place. In total, the DOI estimates that Reinsurance will save $477 million for Coloradans in 2025, which by the end of 2025 will bring the total estimated savings to over $2 billion since it started in 2020.

By the end of 2025, Colorado’s reinsurance program will have reduced health care premiums by more than $2 billion. In 2024, a record number of people enrolled in health care plans via the “Colorado Option,” which accounted for 34% of all open enrollment activity for the year.

It is the nature of news in general that negative stories tend to get more attention than positive stories. Political news is no exception, so it’s important that we try to take more time to highlight the good stuff.

This is also another important reminder that elections matter. These savings would not have happened in an alternate universe under a [shudder] Governor Walker Stapleton.