Small business owners who have been let down by the promises of Connect for Health Colorado are hoping to see the end of the program.
“Since its inception … the exchange has failed to reduce premiums small-business owners pay on behalf of their employees, choices of the types of plans have become fewer, and carriers continue to abandon the exchange,” NFIB/Colorado State Director Tony Gagliardi said in a statement earlier this year.
A bill introduced in the Colorado Senate would end Connect for Health Colorado, switching instead to Healthcare.gov, the federal government’s health insurance exchange, reports the Denver Post.
The bill would not repeal Obamacare or cancel insurance policies of those insured. It would take effect at the start of 2018.
Sen. Jim Smallwood said Connect for Health Colorado is well below its expected enrollment figures, according to the Denver Post.
“What I’m hoping to see is a reversal of what we are seeing every year,” Smallwood told KUSA. “We have had fewer insurance companies, more restrictive options within those insurance companies, and skyrocketing premiums.”
Many small business owners agree, according to Gagliardi.
“NFIB believes it’s time for a top-to-bottom evaluation of the structure, philosophies, and financial accounting of the exchange,” he said earlier this year.
Several other states have recently abandoned their own health insurance exchanges, though 12 states still operate one, according to the Colorado Independent.
