Benchmark $557/mo · +21.2% approved · Connect for Health Colorado
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A 40-year-old freelance developer 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%.
Most pages on this site are built from the CMS Landscape file, which covers only healthcare.gov states. Colorado left that platform and runs Connect for Health Colorado, so it appears in no CMS release at all — which is precisely why Colorado numbers are hard to find and why most comparison sites quietly skip it. The figures below were assembled from Colorado rate approvals and the national benchmark series instead.
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; sedentary cardiovascular risk.
To be clear about what this does and does not affect: a Colorado carrier cannot ask your occupation, cannot charge a freelance developer more than anyone else of the same age in the same ZIP, and cannot exclude a condition you already have. Occupation only tells you which plan structure to shop for.
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: Hardware, software, cloud hosting, 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’s 2026 benchmark premium is $557 a month for a 40-year-old. The national benchmark is $625, so Colorado sits below average.
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 is above the cliff in all 21 states reported.
What this figure is. It is the median annual wage BLS reports for Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) 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 developer. 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 Developers 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 developer that makes national round-ups the least reliable place to look.
Nobody can tell you your 2027 Colorado premium yet. Filings nationally cluster around a 15% median increase, with the full spread running −1% to 54% — and until this state signs off, a specific local number is invention.
The window opens November 1, 2026, and December 15 is the date worth writing down — it is what secures January 1 cover in Colorado and everywhere else. You will find later dates quoted; they stem from a 2025 rule that was vacated in June 2026 and is under appeal.
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:
Two Freelance Developers on opposite sides of Colorado can be quoted very different premiums for the same plan. Your ZIP is what decides it.