Benchmark $557/mo · +21.2% approved · Connect for Health Colorado
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A 40-year-old freelance designer in Colorado faces a benchmark premium of $557/month for 2026, up from $463 in 2025. That is 11% below the national benchmark of $625. Carriers were approved for an average increase of +21.2%.
Colorado runs its own exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, rather than healthcare.gov. CMS therefore excludes it from the Qualified Health Plan Landscape file that powers most of this site, so there is no public plan-by-county premium table for Colorado the way there is for Florida or Texas. What you get instead — approved rate changes, carrier concentration and the benchmark series — comes straight from state filings, and in some ways says more, because these are rates a regulator actually approved rather than rates an insurer filed.
Colorado runs a public-option-style standardized plan. Every carrier must offer “Colorado Option” versions alongside its own designs, with $0 copays for primary care, mental health visits, diabetic supplies and prenatal/postnatal care. That makes cross-carrier comparison unusually clean.
| Colorado — 2026 | Figure |
|---|---|
| Benchmark premium, age 40 (2026) | $557 |
| Benchmark premium, age 40 (2025) | $463 |
| Year-over-year change | +20.3% |
| Approved average rate increase | +21.2% |
| Versus the national benchmark ($625) | -11% |
| Rank among your 21 licensed states | 7 of 21 |
| Counties | 64 |
| Carriers on the exchange | 6 |
| Exchange | Connect for Health Colorado (state-run since 2014) |
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Denver Health Medical Plan, Kaiser Permanente, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, SelectHealth.
Carrier availability varies sharply by region — Denver metro has all six, while some mountain and Western Slope counties have one or two.
Sources: Colorado Division of Insurance final 2026 rate filings; Connect for Health Colorado. KFF, “Marketplace Average Benchmark Premiums,” 2026. Benchmark is the second-lowest-cost Silver plan for a 40-year-old, weighted by plan selections.
Low claim volume and a younger buyer usually favor a high-deductible plan paired with an HSA.
Occupational context: Repetitive stress injury and eye strain.
None of that changes your price. Plans in Colorado are community rated — premium varies by age, ZIP code, tobacco use and household size only. Occupation cannot be used to rate, decline or exclude you.
Ranked on the benchmark premium, the one measure published on the same basis for every state. Cheaper: Nevada ($497), Ohio ($513), Michigan ($523). More expensive: South Carolina ($564), Oklahoma ($604), Wisconsin ($611).
You buy where you live, not where you work, so treat this as context rather than a shopping list. A genuine move does open a special enrollment period.
Expense categories that typically apply to this trade: Software subscriptions, hardware, home office. Health premiums are generally deductible above the line under IRC §162(l) when no employer plan is available to you or a spouse. The deduction lowers your AGI, and AGI sets your premium tax credit, so the two calculate against each other — worth raising with your CPA before you enroll rather than after.
Colorado carriers were approved for +21.2% on average for 2026. Increases were large across the country because the enhanced federal premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025.
The 2026 benchmark premium in Colorado is $557 per month for a 40-year-old, up from $463 in 2025. That is full price before premium tax credits; most buyers pay less after subsidies.
Carriers in Colorado were approved for an average increase of 21.2%. Filings across the country cited the expiry of the enhanced federal premium tax credits at the end of 2025, rising medical and drug costs, and expectations that healthier people would drop coverage.
No. Exchange plans are guaranteed issue and community rated. Price varies only by age, ZIP code, tobacco use and household size. Occupation is not a rating factor.
No. Colorado runs its own exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, state-operated since 2014. You enrolll there rather than on healthcare.gov.
Above the cliff. At this income a single-person household receives no premium tax credit for 2026 and pays the full premium.
This occupation sits above the cliff in 3 of the 21 states reported and below it in the other 18, so the answer changes with the state.
What this figure is. It is the median annual wage BLS reports for Graphic Designers (SOC 27-1024) in Colorado. BLS surveys wage and salary workers and excludes the self-employed, so it is a benchmark for the occupation in this state — not the income of a self-employed freelance designer. Premium tax credit eligibility is set by household modified adjusted gross income and household size, not by occupation, so treat this as a reference point rather than a determination of what you qualify for.
Why the cliff is back. The enhanced premium tax credits expired on 31 December 2025. For plan year 2026 the 400% FPL limit applies again, so household income above $62,600 ends premium tax credit eligibility outright.
This page compares states. For Colorado specifically — county-level carriers and enrollment help — I publish that on Coverage by County, including a page written for Freelance Designers in Colorado and a blog covering deductibles, subsidies and special enrollment.
Colorado runs its own marketplace rather than healthcare.gov, so 2027 plan and rate detail arrives on the state’s timetable, not in the federal files most comparison sites reprint. For a freelance designer that makes national round-ups the least reliable place to look.
Rate filings for 2027 point to roughly a 15% median increase nationally, from −1% at one end to 54% at the other. Colorado has not finalised, so treat exact local 2027 pricing as unavailable rather than unknown.
Mark November 1, 2026 to open and December 15 to act. That second date guarantees cover from January 1 in Colorado regardless of how the current litigation over the enrollment window resolves.
Colorado publishes its 2027 plan data on its own schedule rather than in the federal files, so the earlier you get a read on your options the less you are relying on national summaries that may not apply here.
Give me a ZIP and I will tell you three things:
Coverage for Freelance Designers is priced county by county across Colorado. Enter your ZIP and I will show you what is on the table.