As the last day to enroll for health insurance on the Colorado marketplace arrives today, dire predictions about the number of people who would go uncovered rather than pay unsubsidized and higher rates have largely failed to materialize in Colorado.
But the loss of federal subsidies has forced families and individuals to make hard choices and dig far deeper into their bank accounts to pay for insurance if they can't get it through an employer.
“I can't be without it. If I wanna stay alive, I have to do this,” said Chelsey Baker-Hauck, a politically unaffiliated Denver resident who runs a consulting business.
Last year, she faced medical bills approaching $900,000 for a health condition and drugs to treat it. A co-pay program through a drug company gave her a lot of help, but when she lost federal health insurance subsidies in the One Big Beautiful Bill, her monthly cost nearly doubled from $238 to $470 a month.
Still, she signed up, though she and her husband are in the process of taking out a loan to pay for it.
“I had very little faith that Congress would act in time or at all to change this situation, and I guess, they lived up to my expectations, my very low expectations,” she said.
According to Connect for Colorado, the state marketplace, preliminary figures show that enrollment, even with the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credit, is fairly consistent with last year. There has been some movement to lower-tier plans, but it is not significant. The organization expects to have final, verified numbers in about a week.
The state has stepped in with a new program to help households earning under 400 percent of the federal poverty level, which for a family of four is $128,600. Baker-Hauck is one Coloradan who qualified, saving her $80 a month, which she described as helpful.
“It’s encouraging to see customers enrolling, particularly because we know this year hasn’t been easy,” said Kevin Patterson, chief executive officer of Connect for Health Colorado, in a statement last month, noting that the loss of the federal tax credit has discouraged some from enrolling. “But customers are shopping and comparing plans, and state-funded Colorado Premium Assistance has created more affordable options for plan year 2026.”
The U.S. House last week passed a three-year, clean extension of the enhanced credit, but that has never passed the Senate and President Trump has said he will veto it if it reaches his desk.
Right now, any hope for an extension is pinned on a bipartisan group of Senators who are trying to reach an agreement on a shorter extension with changes, including income caps and guardrails against fraud.
In the meantime, Baker-Hauck and her husband are in the process of taking out a home equity loan because there’s no money in their budget for a doubling of her healthcare expenses.
”We have to pay for that somehow. And this is a better option than, say, a credit card,” she said. “Insurance is right up there with, like, water, food, housing, as far as a basic necessity for life. I have to find a way to pay it.”
She lamented the fact that by not renewing the subsidies, Congress is driving the costs of health insurance up for everyone, not just those getting assistance to pay for it on state health exchanges.
“You have people dropping insurance, and that could mean them dropping out of the workforce if they become sick and uninsured,” Baker-Hauck said.
That’s something Mercedes Von Pichl, who suffers from asthma, knows something about. Her family is keeping their insurance, but not for the entire family. The small music business owners from Commerce City have two kids. Her youngest, Nikaya, born in September, had a 7-week stay in the NICU. Luckily, they were able to get insurance for her this year through Medicaid, which will cover her special needs.
“Dropping her from the Kaiser plan increased [costs] for the three of us — our older daughter, my husband and I — and we actually made the decision to take him off of the plan, because it was going to be almost $700 to keep him, and just to have Amalie and I,” she explained.
Her husband wants coverage, but without him, their premium costs amount to a little over $500 a month. They’re banking on his good health to continue this year and to be able to pay for any of his doctor’s visits out-of-pocket.
“We're like most Americans at this point, living month to month. We have a little bit of savings. Because we're small business owners, we're trying to prepare a little bit for the future, but we have very little wiggle room,” she said.
Like Baker-Hauck, Karen, who asked that her last name not be used to speak candidly about her finances, is a bit frustrated with the lack of action by Congress and not just this one.
“They’ve had the last 15 years or more to work on [health care], and they’ve done nothing,” she said. “And so what makes us think that in a year’s time anything is going to be different. It may help us on our bottom line and not have to pay the $2,200 a month, but it’s still not going to be different in a year,” she said.
Karen and her husband decided to re-enroll through the ACA even as their coverage jumped to $2,200 from $495 a month.
They are early retirees and, given their ages, she and her husband were not going to risk going without insurance.
“We have to watch [our spending] more. We were going to buy a new car, but now we’re not,” she explained. “It takes its toll, especially when the insurance is no different or no better … And we’re not done paying after the $2200. That’s just the premium,” she explained.
They are on a fixed income of about $100,000 a year, and she estimates that if they include out-of-pocket costs, health care coverage will cost the couple about $30,000 this year.
Still, Commerce City’s Von Pichl hopes all the talk of an extension of subsidies turns into reality. If that happens, she hopes her husband can get coverage once again.
