Colorado Access already serves 385,000 people throughout the state but is looking for that number to go up.
The nonprofit health plan is currently an insurer and an administrator for residents on Medicare, Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus and is the leading public service health provider in the state. Now its leaders want to broaden its scope.
“We’re headed toward entering commercial markets for employers who want to be at risk for their own cost as opposed to paying premiums for employees,” said Ballard Pritchett, vice president of strategic communications for Colorado Access.
Pritchett said Colorado Access will be involved in providing insurance coverage for small employers through the Colorado Health Insurance Exchange, which was created through the Federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The exchange will be operational in 2014, Pritchett said. It will provide a new marketplace for individuals and small employers to shop for and enroll in public and private health insurance coverage.
The Affordable Care Act also will expand Medicaid to 133 percent of the poverty level and subsidize health care for those between 133 percent and 400 percent of the poverty level, giving Colorado Access the opportunity to serve more clients on that end.
Colorado Access has been in existence since 1994.
