The Colorado Health Institute is a source of health information, data and analysis. It is funded by the Caring for Colorado Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, The Colorado Trust and the Colorado Health Foundation.The CHIís 2015 Colorado Health Access Survey provided statistics on how the Affordable Care Act has impacted Colorado.The survey tracked the full implementation of the health reform law, covering two open enrollment periods.A few Colorado stats on the state of insured and uninsured:
- Two years ago, the stateís uninsured rate stood at 14.3 percent, and 741,000 people were without health insurance. Four years ago, in the aftermath of the recession, the uninsured rate increased to 15.8 percent.
- The survey shows that just 6.7 percent of Coloradans ó about 353,000 people ó do not have health insurance today!
- The percentage of employer-sponsored insurance fell to 50.9 percent, from 52.6 percent in 2013. The rate in 2009 was 57.7 percent, which indicates a nationwide trend away from employer-based coverage.
- The percentage of Coloradans who get their coverage through a large employer ó companies with 50 or more workers ó increased by 3.5 percent, while coverage through a small employer fell by 12.0 percent.
- Employees 55 to 64 years old made up the declines in employer-based coverage. The number of people in this age group still getting coverage through an employer dropped by 42.9 percent between 2013 and 2015, with many most likely moving to Connect for Health Colorado.
- About one out of three Colorado residents (34.2 percent) is covered by public insurance ó Medicaid accounts for 19.9 percent, Medicare at 12.9 percent and the Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) at 1.4 percent. In 2013, 24.2 percent of all Coloradans were covered by public health insurance.
- The northwest corner of Colorado, including Steamboat Springs, still has the highest uninsured rate at 13.0 percent. But its uninsured rate dropped by nearly half in two years.
- Douglas County still has the stateís lowest uninsured rate, at 2.4 percent. Three out of four Douglas County residents get insurance through an employer. The county also saw an increase in Medicaid enrollment.
- The percentage of uninsured Coloradans who say they donít need coverage has decreased from 24.9 percent in 2013 to 20.8.
- About 61 percent of uninsured people said they are in good health and donít expect that to change. About 55 percent said they disagree with ObamaCare.
- One out of four uninsured Coloradans (25.7 percent) said they donít have coverage because of a job they lost or a change in employers, a drop from almost 40 percent in 2013.
