In Colorado, Open Enrollment for individual health insurance re-opens November 1st for plans with a January 1st start date.

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Open Enrollment is a limited time frame for when people can purchase health insurance.

Open Enrollment places the same limits for qualified health insurance plans sold off-exchange (directly from an insurer), as well as those sold through Colorado’s marketplace, Connect for Health Colorado in Colorado.

In Colorado, Open Enrollment opens on November 1st for plans with a January 1st start date and will close after January 15th. Generally, enrollments between December 16th and January 15th will have a February 1st start date.

During Open Enrollment anyone can enroll in a new health insurance plan or change plans.  However, outside of Open Enrollment periods, some special qualifying events can trigger a special enrollment period, which allows you to shop or change your health insurance plans.  These are typically triggered by job changes and/or life changes.

Open enrollment does NOT apply to programs like Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which operate year-around.   There are some additional qualifying events that are tied to current or former jobs and your family situation.