If you’ve enrolled through Connect for Health Colorado before, you may remember that the renewal process can sometimes be a little confusing. For 2027 coverage, Connect for Health Colorado is making a change that should simplify things for many consumers.
The biggest change is that eligible customers will be automatically renewed into their health plan before Open Enrollment begins, rather than during Open Enrollment as part of the process used in prior years. The goal is to make it easier for people to understand their enrollment status and what options they have moving forward.
What Happened in Previous Years?
Under the old process, many customers would receive renewal notices during Open Enrollment. Even when information was provided ahead of time explaining how renewals worked, those notices often caused confusion. I’ve seen plenty of situations where someone received a notice confirming a renewal or plan selection and immediately worried they had missed a deadline or were locked into a plan they were still evaluating. They still had plenty of time to make changes. The notice was simply confirming where things stood at that moment.
Unfortunately, insurance notices are not exactly light reading, and many people understandably assumed the notice meant their decision had already been made.
What’s Changing for 2027?
For Plan Year 2027, eligible customers will be renewed before Open Enrollment starts. When Open Enrollment begins on November 1, your renewal will already be in place if you’re eligible for automatic renewal. You’ll still have the full Open Enrollment period, through December 31, 2026, to review your options, update your application, adjust your income estimate, or choose a different plan. If you find a plan that better fits your needs, you can simply select it during Open Enrollment and it will replace the automatic renewal.
New Renewal Notices Are Coming
Connect for Health Colorado is also combining several notices into a single communication that is intended to be easier to understand. The notice will clearly explain:
Whether you’re already enrolled for the upcoming year
Important deadlines
Changes in premium costs
Payment information
How to update your application or choose a different plan
Where to get help from your broker or assister
One helpful addition is that consumers will be able to see a comparison between their current costs and their projected costs for the upcoming year.
Still Review Your Options
Even if you’re automatically renewed, it’s still worth taking a few minutes to review your coverage each year. Premiums change. Provider networks change. Prescription coverage changes. Financial assistance can change based on your income and household situation. Automatic renewal is designed to keep coverage from falling through the cracks, but it shouldn’t replace a yearly review.
Most consumers won’t need to do anything differently because of this change. The biggest difference is that your renewal status should be clearer earlier in the process, which will hopefully reduce some of the confusion that has historically popped up during Open Enrollment. And just because you’re automatically renewed doesn’t mean you’re stuck. You’ll still have the entire Open Enrollment period to review plans and make changes if you find a better fit.
Jay operates a health insurance brokerage in Colorado, where he helps individuals and small groups obtain and maintain health insurance coverage, provides data analysis, and creates visualizations that are easily understood by consumers and other stakeholders in Colorado’s health insurance market.
