A federal report released this week shows Colorado’s health insurance marketplace was fourth-highest among the 15 state-run exchanges in private-insurance enrollments.
Connect for Health Colorado says it signed up 220,441 people through March 1 — with 135,560 enrolling in Medicaid and 84,881 purchasing private insurance.
Nationwide, more than 4.2 million people had signed up by March 1 through the federal and state exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. Last year the Obama administration estimated that 5.6 million would be enrolled by March 1.
Colorado was fourth among states running their own exchanges, including the District of Columbia, in the total number of private-insurance enrollees. It was sixth in terms of enrollees as a percentage of the pool of uninsured, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released late Tuesday.
Nearly 17 percent of Colorado’s estimated potential market of 501,000 people signed up for private insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation and HHS report. The foundation defined the target market as the number of those who are uninsured, ineligible for Medicaid and without access to employer-sponsored coverage .
Among all states, including those whose residents were left to sign up through the federal exchange, 11 states and the District of Columbia enrolled a higher share of their target markets than Colorado did.
Colorado was 12th in private-insurance total enrollments, although it ranks only 22nd in state population, Connect for Health Colorado spokesman Ben Davis said.
Young adults, ages 18-34, make up 27 percent of enrollees nationwide. In Colorado, that age group makes up 24 percent of enrollees. Health-care experts have said 35 percent to 40 percent would be the participation needed to check insurance price increases in 2015.
Hoping to improve on its numbers, between now and the March 31 open-enrollment deadline for buying health insurance, Connect for Health Colorado staff will be trolling at a dozen King Soopers and City Market locations across the state to help answer the public’s questions.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276, edraper@denverpost.com or twitter.com/electadraper
