Janette Taylor, Boulder County.   In a recent presentation from Dale Whyte of Boulder County Housing and Human Services, we learned a lot about how Boulder County folks who don’t have insurance through their workplaces can get enrolled and, even better, the possibility that they will receive financial assistance paying their premiums and co-pays.

Open Enrollment begins on November 1, 2018, and ends on January 15, 2019. However, if you need to be enrolled by January 1, 2019 you need to be signed up by December 15. Colorado has a longer open enrollment period than most states, but it needs to be met: once you are enrolled, or if you miss enrollment, you can’t get back into the system unless you have a “major life event change,” such as a marriage, divorce, child, new job, etc.

There are many opportunities to enroll. You can get to an assistance site via Bouldercounty.org or, if you want to talk to a human being, the following dates are available in Nederland:

November 10 from 9 a.m. to Noon at the Human Services Fair or in the Boulder County Area Agency on Aging Office on the following Thursdays: November 15 & 29, December 13 and January 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Human Services Fair and the Area Agency on Aging office are all in the Nederland Community Center.

Colorado has its own marketplace, a public non-profit started by the Colorado General Assembly in 2011. We are one of 18 states that has its own marketplace.

Most importantly, financial assistance is available. People who are at 150-400% of the Federal Poverty Level can qualify. For example, if your income falls into those percentages and your plan is $500, you may get as much as $400 in Advanced Premium Tax Credits (APTC), and you also have lower co-pays.

For those eligible for financial assistance, the net premium in Boulder County is actually down by 26 percent!

People currently insured through Connect for Health Colorado can have their previous coverage renewed, assuming nothing has changed in their plan. Those whose plan options have changed will receive a letter about that and will have to actively re-enroll. There will be application enrollment assistance and health coverage guides during the office hours above, and there will be drop-in events as well on Saturdays, but only in Longmont.

Boulder County has led the charge in the state with the highest insured rate of all 64 counties, 4.4 percent uninsured, some of whom are not eligible to be insured.

You may be surprised at what you can qualify for. It pays to talk to a counselor and find out. Much preventative care is free and helps save money in the long run. Consider what kind of coverage you are likely to need and come to talk to them.

Unfortunately, due to Federal regulations, the insurance “cliff” still exists: if one partner has insurance deemed affordable through work, the family pays the market rate. We hope this inequity will be addressed sooner than later.

Connect for Health Colorado will have information for Gilpin County as well.

(Originally published in the November 1, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)