Colorado locals on Anthem and Rocky Mountain Health Plans can breathe a little easier today. The two healthcare providers will remain on the state’s health marketplace next year, just weeks after saying they would leave.
In August, the two confirmed they were pulling coverage from 16 counties, including Summit and the Vail area. This would have left an estimated 96,000 people statewide scrambling for new healthcare next year.
Days later, state lawmakers passed legislation to make up for disappearing Federal tax credits. Their patchwork solution was a part of a heated emergency session called to fill gaps left by the Trump Administration’s Big Beautiful Bill.
Michael Conway, Colorado’s insurance commissioner, tells the Colorado Sun this “special session helped ensure that both Rocky Mountain HMO and Anthem have decided to pull back the discontinuances they initially filed.”
Anthem itself hinted it might return if lawmakers found the right mix of incentives. Summit County commissioner Tamara Pogue was hopeful, telling Krystal 93 those disappearing tax credits made everyone nervous.
“The reality is that HR1, the Big Beautiful bill, cut a lot of things people in our state rely on,” Pogue says. “SNAP benefits, access to childcare through C-Cap, healthcare premium tax credits to name a few.”
But even this latest healthcare solution is not a silver billet. Medicaid is losing $36 million. Pogue, onetime director of the Peak Health Alliance, predicts another rate hike for most.
“While folks will still see an increase in their premiums (next year) because they were not able to fully fund what was needed, it will not be as bad as anticipated,” Pogue says.
2026 premiums are released in coming weeks. Enrollment begins Nov. 1.