Open enrollment in Colorado begins on November 1, 2026, and runs through January 15, 2027.
That date is the easy part. What matters more is what you do with the 76 days that follow, because 2027 brings a carrier leaving the state market, higher requested prices, and new federal verification steps that will show up on your application.
This guide walks through every deadline inside the window and what changed for Colorado plans this year. It also covers what happens if you miss your chance, and what to do if the price does not work. By the end, you will know what to handle in September and what to decide in November.
When Does Open Enrollment Begin in Colorado?
Open enrollment for 2027 plans begins on November 1, 2026.
Connect for Health Colorado is the state marketplace, and it is the only place you can claim a federal premium tax credit or Colorado Premium Assistance. Colorado runs its own exchange instead of using the federal one, which means the state sets its own calendar. In Colorado, open enrollment begins the same day it always has.
This window applies to you if you buy your own plan: self-employed, contracting, retired before 65, between jobs, or working somewhere that does not offer benefits. If you get a plan through an employer, your company runs its own annual enrollment on its own schedule, and these dates do not apply to you.
You may have read that other states are cutting their windows short for 2027. Connect for Health Colorado addressed that directly on its What Is New page for Colorado plan changes, confirming the dates here are not changing.
It is also the only stretch of the year when everyone can buy without answering a single health question.
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Colorado Open Enrollment Dates and Deadlines for 2027
Colorado open enrollment 2027 holds two deadlines inside it, not one.
- November 1, 2026. Open enrollment begins and every 2027 plan becomes available to shop.
- December 15, 2026. The last day to enroll if you want your plan in force on January 1, 2027.
- December 16, 2026, through January 15, 2027. Enroll in this stretch and your plan starts February 1, 2027, instead.
- January 15, 2027. The window closes for everyone without a qualifying life event.
December 15 is the date people miss. Enroll on December 20 and you are not late. You will simply spend all of January without a new plan in force, which matters if you take a monthly prescription or have a procedure booked.
Shopping early also gives you something the calendar does not show: options. Carriers and plan designs are all on the table on November 1, and the people who wait until the second week of January are choosing under time pressure with fewer good answers in front of them.
Renewals also happen on their own if you do nothing, and that is the trap. An automatic renewal keeps you in a plan whose price, network, and drug list may all have shifted since you chose it. Treat that notice as a starting point rather than a decision.
Put both dates in your calendar the day open enrollment begins, because the Connect for Health Colorado enrollment deadline does not move.
What Is Changing for Colorado Plans in 2027
Five changes are worth knowing before you shop.
- Cigna is leaving. Cigna will no longer sell individual or family medical plans in Colorado beginning in 2027. Current members stay in place through December 31, 2026, and qualify for a special enrollment period through March 1, 2027.
- A new carrier is arriving. Colorado Access, through its affiliate Access Connected Care Partners, enters the Connect for Health Colorado individual market for plan year 2027 with plans called Colorado Access Choice.
- The state passed an affordability law. SB26-178 puts additional support behind the programs that lower monthly costs, including OmniSalud, and is designed to hold down future increases.
- Federal rules tightened. Expect added verification requirements when you apply or renew, changes to how financial help is determined, and updated special enrollment period eligibility rules.
- Bronze and catastrophic plans are now HSA-eligible. You can pair either one with a health savings account and pay medical costs with pre-tax dollars. This applies whether you buy on the exchange or off it.
That last change is the one most people have not heard about, and it quietly reshapes the math for healthy households. A Bronze plan carries the lowest monthly price on the exchange, and pairing it with a health savings account lets you set aside pre-tax money for the deductible you hope never to reach.
The Cigna exit is the one that forces a decision. Roughly 41,000 Coloradans hold a Cigna individual plan, and every one of them needs a new plan for 2027 whether they wanted to shop or not.
Check whether your own carrier is still selling in Colorado before open enrollment begins, not after.
Why Colorado Premiums Are Rising for 2027
Prices are climbing again, and the cause is not a Colorado problem.
Insurers have requested an average increase of 11% in the Colorado individual market for 2027, according to preliminary filings released by the Colorado Division of Insurance. Those are requested rates still under review, not approved ones. Among the states that had filed by late July 2026, the median requested increase was 14%, so Colorado is holding up better than most.
Where you live changes your number. In the division west region, which takes in the Western Slope apart from Mesa County, the average requested individual increase runs closer to 14.7%. Mountain and rural counties have carried higher prices than the Front Range for years, and 2027 widens that gap rather than closing it.
Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway points to the expiration of the federal enhanced premium tax credits as the main driver. That expiration already landed hard once: it roughly doubled premium costs on average for hundreds of thousands of Coloradans in the individual market for the 2026 plan year.
If you read that and feel like you did everything right and got charged for it anyway, you are not imagining things. The Coloradans hit hardest are self-employed people, contractors, and small business owners who earn too much to qualify for meaningful help and pay full freight for everything.
None of that sits in your control, but which plan you carry into 2027 does.
You want your number before open enrollment begins, not while you are staring at a deadline.
What Happens If You Miss Open Enrollment in Colorado
If you miss the window, you wait.
After January 15, 2027, you cannot buy an ACA-qualified Colorado plan or switch to a different one unless you qualify for a special enrollment period. There is no grace period and no late fee that buys your way back in. For most people the next opportunity is November 1, 2027.
That gap is the real risk, and it is easy to underestimate in a healthy year. A broken leg in March or an appendectomy in June lands entirely on you. The price a hospital charges someone with no plan is the worst price in the system.
A few doors do stay open year round. Health First Colorado and Child Health Plan Plus accept applications any month if your income qualifies, and health sharing programs enroll on their own schedule rather than the exchange calendar. Neither one is a substitute for an ACA plan if you are eligible for a subsidy.
There is one more reason the gap stings. A plan bought during a special enrollment period starts the month after you enroll, so a qualifying event does nothing about a bill you already received.
Short-term plans are the option to treat carefully. They can exclude pre-existing conditions outright and do not have to renew you.
Enrolling Outside Open Enrollment With a Special Enrollment Period
Certain life events open a private window just for you.
A special enrollment period is a 60-day window triggered by a qualifying event. Losing a job-based plan, getting married, having a baby, moving, and a significant income change all count. The 60 days run from the event itself, and the clock does not restart because you were busy.
Colorado has a live example running right now. Anyone whose Cigna plan ends December 31, 2026, qualifies for a special enrollment period through March 1, 2027, which is a longer runway than the standard 60 days and is worth using deliberately rather than at the last minute.
Do not wait until you have every document in hand before you act. Submit your application now, and gather the proof they ask for afterward. Missing paperwork slows an application down, but a missed deadline ends it.
One qualifying event is all it takes to get you back in before open enrollment begins again.
Financial Help Through Connect for Health Colorado
Financial help exists, and it exists in exactly one place.
Premium tax credits and Colorado Premium Assistance are available only through Connect for Health Colorado. Buy the identical plan straight from a carrier and you forfeit both. That is the most expensive mistake people make shopping on their own.
How much you receive depends on income, household size, age, and county. Update every one of those details before you enroll, because an outdated income estimate is the most common reason people get too little help through the year or owe money back when they file.
Colorado also runs OmniSalud, a program for residents ineligible for federal help, which offers plans and state-funded financial assistance regardless of immigration status. Enrollment there works on the same annual calendar.
Have your numbers ready before you start. That means a realistic estimate of 2027 household income, everyone you claim on your tax return, and any job change you already see coming.
Ten minutes spent updating your application can be worth several hundred dollars a month.
What to Do If Marketplace Prices Still Do Not Work for You
For plenty of Colorado households, even the subsidized number does not work.
Three other routes are worth a look, and none of them is right for everyone.
- An HSA-qualified plan. Pair a Bronze or catastrophic plan with a health savings account, then pay your deductible and everyday medical bills with pre-tax dollars.
- Direct primary care. A flat monthly fee to a Colorado practice buys unlimited primary care visits, usually paired with a plan that handles the large and unexpected events.
- A health sharing plan. Members contribute monthly and share each other’s medical bills. Health sharing plans are not insurance and are not regulated as insurance.
Health sharing is not a fit for everyone, and we would rather say so plainly. If you qualify for a meaningful premium tax credit, an ACA plan usually wins on price and on protection. If you live with a pre-existing condition, sharing for it may be limited or excluded during a waiting period.
Our Colorado health sharing plan overview walks through where the model works and where it does not.
Ask what each route costs across a full year, not per month. A low monthly price paired with a high deductible can win if you rarely see a doctor. It loses badly the year you do.
The right answer depends on your income, your health history, and how much risk you are willing to carry yourself.
How to Get Ready Before Open Enrollment Begins
The work that saves you money happens in September and October, not in November.
- Confirm your carrier is still selling for 2027. If you are with Cigna, you already know you are moving.
- Update your income and household details on your Connect for Health Colorado application before the window opens.
- List your doctors and your prescriptions. Networks and drug lists change every year, and a plan that fit last year may not fit now.
- Read the renewal notice when it arrives instead of filing it away unopened.
- Get a quote early so you know your realistic price range before you have to decide anything.
Doing this in October takes about an hour. Doing the same hour of work on January 14 leaves you with fewer plans still available, no time to compare networks, and no room to ask a question and wait for the answer.
Walk in prepared and the day open enrollment begins becomes a decision day instead of a research day.
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HSA Eligibility FAQs
Q: When does open enrollment begin in Colorado for 2027?
A: Open enrollment begins November 1, 2026, and ends January 15, 2027.
Enroll by December 15, 2026, for a plan that starts January 1. Enroll after that and your start date moves to February 1, 2027. Connect for Health Colorado has confirmed these dates are not changing this year.
Q: What is the deadline for a January 1 start date?
A: December 15, 2026.
Anything you submit between December 16, 2026, and January 15, 2027, takes effect February 1, 2027, instead. If you take a monthly prescription or have a procedure booked for January, December 15 is the date that matters to you.
Q: When does open enrollment end in Colorado?
A: January 15, 2027.
After that you need a qualifying life event to enroll. Colorado runs its own marketplace and chose not to shorten the window, so open enrollment ends on the same date it has in recent years rather than in December.
Q: Do I need to do anything to keep my current plan?
A: Almost always, yes.
Even when a plan renews automatically, the price, the provider network, and the amount of financial help you receive can all change for 2027. Log in, read the renewal notice, and confirm the numbers before the window closes.
Q: Is Cigna leaving Colorado, and what should I do about it?
A: Yes, starting in 2027.
Cigna stops selling individual and family medical plans in Colorado next year. Your current plan runs through December 31, 2026, and you qualify for a special enrollment period through March 1, 2027, though choosing your 2027 plan during the regular window is simpler.
Q: What if I lose my job-based plan after open enrollment ends?
A: You qualify for a special enrollment period.
Losing a job-based plan is a qualifying life event, and it gives you 60 days to enroll in a new plan. Submit your application right away and gather the documents they request afterward, since the deadline is the part you cannot fix.
Whatever your situation, knowing your price before open enrollment begins is the fastest way to decide well.
Misty Berryman is a Personal Benefits Manager at ColoHealth. Her aim is to help you make smart and informed healthcare coverage decisions that will fit your needs and budget. Read more about Misty on her Bio page.
