Colorado residents can keep their previous health care plans through the end of 2015, even if they don’t comply with the Affordable Care Act. State insurance officials announced the decision last week. They also explained how health care premiums could change for residents in the Roaring Fork Valley.
At a meeting on Friday, May 2nd, Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar said her agency is seriously looking at grouping Garfield, Eagle, and Pitkin counties with most of the Western Slope. The idea is to spread the burden of insurance and health care costs to a larger group of people. The Colorado Division of Insurance decided earlier this year to take a hard look at how insurance companies come up with health care premiums, after Garfield County and others argued premiums are unfairly high in some mountain communities. State officials plan to announce later this week whether they’ll definitely make the change.
