Colorado’s Health Insurance Market

Health insurance is a method of paying or receiving reimbursement for health care costs from covered services. Health insurance companies spread the costs and risk of covered health care services across all members of a plan in exchange for premiums and other cost-sharing mechanisms, such as deductibles and copayments. These rates are actuarially determined and set at a level that covers the estimated health care costs incurred by all members of the group. This issue brief provides an overview of the health insurance market in Colorado and federal and state health insurance regulations.