Connect for Health Colorado Updates – Shopping and Enrollment has Begun!

“On October 1st, we opened Colorado’s new health insurance marketplace for individuals, families and small businesses, offering 242 health plans from 11 carriers, and a broad statewide Customer Support Network to personally assist shoppers. Both the English and Spanish websites went live just before 8:00 am. The first day of operations saw tremendous consumer interest and quick responses to operational issues to improve responsiveness and personalized customer support.

Individuals, families and small businesses can look at their health insurance options and shop for coverage that will take effect as early as January 1, 2014, if you sign up by December 15. Open enrollment continues until March 31, 2014. Individuals and families can choose from up to 150 private health insurance plans from ten carriers and small employers can create small group plans from up to 92 health insurance plans provided by six carriers. New financial assistance, based on income, will be available to nearly 500,000 Coloradans to reduce costs. Shoppers can buy insurance today and claim a tax credit on their taxes or apply for an advance tax credit to use up-front to reduce the monthly premium.

From videos to County Snapshots and a tax credit calculator, the Marketplace offers many ways for Coloradans to learn about their options. Our new Customer Service Center has expanded hours, so Coloradans can reach a Customer Service Center Representative by phone from 7 am to 8 pm, Mondays through Saturdays, at 1-855-PLANS-4-YOU (855-752-6749). On our website, you can locate an Assistance Site near you for in-person assistance, and find a list of more than 1,400 certified licensed health insurance agents and brokers for advice and support.

Here’s a recap of the busy first day as of 8 pm on October 1:

• Unique website visitors: 79,000
• Total web page hits: 12 million
• Calls and chats with Customer Service Center Representatives: 3,700
• Accounts created: 5,500
• Average call wait time: 3 minutes 49 seconds

Open Enrollment Campaign
Our new open enrollment campaign begins this week as well, and will build in the coming weeks. This campaign features new television and radio spots, as well as print ads, billboards, online and mobile promotions, and grassroots outreach. You can view some of our television spots, videos in English and Spanish, and a new PSA from local comedian Josh Blue, on our Youtube channel. [Source: Connect for Health Colorado]