I can still arrange a nationwide PPO in Colorado. Let's look at a Fort Collins family running an Old Town coffee roastery, raising two children and needing replacement coverage because their current marketplace insurer is exiting.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I'm licensed to broker health insurance in Colorado, and I help Colorado small-business owners compare and arrange their household coverage entirely by phone.
Imagine a couple running a coffee roasting business in Fort Collins. They operate an Old Town café, supply roasted beans to restaurants along the Front Range and employ several part-time baristas, mostly CSU students. The company doesn't provide a group health plan. Instead, the owners and their two children, one attending middle school and the other in third grade, have coverage through Connect for Health Colorado. Then a letter arrives this fall explaining that their insurance carrier is withdrawing from Colorado. Now the family needs to select a replacement policy.
I arrange that coverage privately, rather than through the marketplace. Everyone applying completes medical questions, which the insurer uses to determine pricing. The nationwide network can include doctors near home in Fort Collins, hospitals in Denver and providers in Ohio when the family visits grandparents.
Colorado's marketplace doesn't offer an equivalent PPO. During 2026, its individual medical plans consisted entirely of HMOs and EPOs, with no marketplace PPO available in any county. Larimer County had 6 participating insurance companies. One is exiting Colorado's individual market for 2027, leaving 5 of those 6 carriers.
When your insurer is the company withdrawing, your existing plan won't renew for 2027. You'll need to select new coverage during open enrollment beginning November 1, 2026. See which insurer is leaving the Colorado marketplace. First, identify the networks accepted by your children's pediatrician and your family doctor. Since the available plans are HMOs and EPOs, provider participation helps determine the insurer, and then you can compare prices among its plans.
There is some encouraging pricing news for Larimer County. Colorado's Division of Insurance identifies the county as Rating Area 4 and reports a final average 2027 rate increase of 9.5%, compared with the statewide average of 10%. The Division also estimates that Colorado's reinsurance program reduces 2027 premiums around Fort Collins by 17.9%.
For premium assistance, what matters is your household's net income across the full year, not simply revenue during the busiest stretches. A coffee roastery calculates that by subtracting expenses such as green coffee purchases, employee wages, café rent, equipment and deliveries from sales.
If household earnings fall between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, marketplace family coverage with federal premium credits is generally the lowest-cost approach. Colorado also provides Colorado Premium Assistance to qualifying households. Connect for Health Colorado calculates this extra help using an amount for the first covered person, then adds an amount for each additional household member paying a premium. Total assistance cannot exceed the premium remaining after the federal credit. You don't need to submit a separate application because it's applied automatically. The Division confirms that this assistance continues into 2027.
After comparing costs, check the participating doctors. HMOs ordinarily exclude nonemergency out-of-network treatment, so confirm that both children's physicians accept the plan you're considering.
Next step: Find the roastery's profit from last year's financial records and gather the doctors your family uses. I'll compare Larimer County coverage after applying both state and federal assistance.
When business income pushes your household above four times the poverty level, federal premium credits end and marketplace coverage costs its full amount. At that stage, I'd compare a private nationwide PPO. Every applicant completes medical questions, and the insurer might approve the whole family, approve coverage while excluding one condition, or decline one person's application. Healthy households frequently see premiums below unsubsidized marketplace rates. Before switching, we'll compare exactly what each policy covers and pays.
Next step: When you have a nearly complete picture of this year's business income, give me a call. I'll compare a private nationwide PPO quote with Larimer County's full-price family coverage.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Yes. Of the 6 marketplace insurers operating in Larimer County during 2026, one is exiting Colorado's individual insurance market. The other five remain, excluding any new insurer entering for 2027.
For 2027, the Colorado Division of Insurance approved an average premium increase of 9.5% in Larimer County, designated Rating Area 4.
Colorado calculates an amount for the first covered person and adds an amount for each additional premium-paying household member, up to the premium remaining after federal assistance.
Yes. When your household meets the health requirements, I can arrange private PPO coverage for the entire family outside Connect for Health Colorado.
Let me know your town, each family member's age, your current insurance carrier and roughly how much income the business produced for your household last year. I'll compare Larimer County marketplace premiums after state and federal assistance with a private nationwide PPO quote.
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