You don’t always have to wait for open enrollment to get health insurance. Losing employer coverage, having a baby, getting married, or making a qualifying move can give you a Special Enrollment Period to enroll during the year.
The details matter. Some events qualify only under certain conditions, and your enrollment deadline is different from the date your coverage begins.
This guide covers individual and family health insurance in Colorado. Employer plans have separate enrollment rules and deadlines.
What counts as a qualifying life event?
Losing health insurance
Losing qualifying coverage can open a special enrollment period. Examples include:
- Employer coverage ending after you leave a job or your hours are reduced.
- Losing eligibility for a parent’s plan when you turn 26.
- Losing eligibility for Health First Colorado or CHP+.
- COBRA reaching the end of its available term.
- Your insurance company discontinuing your individual plan.
Quitting a job can still qualify you if your employer health insurance ends. It’s the loss of coverage that matters, rather than whether you left voluntarily.
For most qualifying coverage losses, the enrollment window runs from 60 days before coverage ends through 60 days afterward. Starting before your current plan ends can help you avoid a gap.
See our guide to health insurance after losing a job.
Having a baby, adopting, or accepting a foster placement
These events generally give you 60 days to enroll through the marketplace. Coverage can begin on the date of birth, adoption, or placement.
Employer plans commonly have a shorter enrollment deadline. Don’t assume the marketplace’s 60-day window applies to your work plan.
Our guide to health insurance for newborns explains what to do after a baby arrives.
Getting married
Marriage can create a special enrollment opportunity. Prior coverage requirements may apply, although there are exceptions.
If you’re getting married and need to combine or change coverage, check your options promptly.
Moving
A permanent move that gives you access to different health plans may qualify. Prior coverage requirements and exceptions apply.
Simply changing addresses doesn’t always qualify. A vacation or temporary move to receive medical treatment doesn’t create a special enrollment period.
Divorce, legal separation, or a death in the household
These events can qualify when they cause you to lose health insurance. Divorce without a loss of coverage generally doesn’t create a special enrollment period.
Pregnancy in Colorado
Colorado recognizes pregnancy certified by a health care provider as a qualifying event.
Pregnancy has special coverage start-date rules. Contact us promptly so we can review the certification date and available effective dates.
Other circumstances can also qualify, including release from incarceration, certain changes in immigration status, and some enrollment errors or exceptional situations.
When does the new coverage begin?
Qualifying for special enrollment doesn’t necessarily mean coverage starts immediately. Many enrollments begin on the first day of the following month. Birth, adoption, pregnancy, and certain other circumstances have different rules.
If you know your insurance is ending, review replacement coverage beforehand. For example, if employer coverage ends July 31, arranging your new plan in advance can help you avoid an uninsured period in August.
Before canceling existing coverage, confirm your eligibility, the new plan’s effective date, any required documents, and the first-premium payment deadline.
Does canceling a plan create a qualifying event?
Generally, no. Canceling your insurance or allowing it to terminate for nonpayment usually doesn’t create a special enrollment period.
COBRA can be particularly confusing. After losing employer coverage, you can compare COBRA with individual plans during your original special enrollment window.
Later, exhausting COBRA or losing an employer contribution toward its premiums may create another enrollment opportunity. Voluntarily dropping COBRA early generally doesn’t.
You can also switch from COBRA during open enrollment or if another qualifying event gives you an enrollment opportunity.
Can an income change qualify you?
Sometimes, but an income change isn’t a universal opportunity to enroll.
If you already have coverage through Connect for Health Colorado, report changes in household income. They can affect your financial assistance, and certain changes in eligibility can create a special enrollment opportunity.
Our Colorado health insurance subsidy guide explains financial assistance. The MAGI calculator can help you estimate the household income used for marketplace premium tax credits.
What if you don’t have a qualifying event?
Health First Colorado and CHP+ accept applications year-round. Eligible members of federally recognized tribes also have enrollment opportunities outside the regular open enrollment period.
Colorado’s Tax Time Enrollment program provides another possible pathway for uninsured residents who request coverage assistance through their state tax return. Any resulting enrollment notice will include instructions and a deadline.
Otherwise, you may need to wait for open enrollment.
For 2027 coverage, Colorado open enrollment runs November 1, 2026, through January 15, 2027:
- Select a plan by December 15 for coverage beginning January 1.
- Select a plan December 16 through January 15 for coverage beginning February 1.
A qualifying event may provide different coverage start-date options.
What information should you have ready?
When you contact us about special enrollment, include:
- What changed and the date it happened—or will happen.
- The last day of your existing coverage.
- Who needs insurance.
- Your expected household income for the coverage year.
- Any notice confirming the event or loss of coverage.
Those details help us check your enrollment window, compare available plans, and determine when replacement coverage can begin.