Colorado Health Insurance Deadline Approaching

Residents must sign up by Tuesday for insurance on Colorado’s health insurance marketplace to avoid a gap in coverage when the new year begins.

This year, plans from Colorado HealthOP won’t be available because the cooperative is folding. That leaves some 80,000 residents looking for new insurance.

More than half of the state's residents who enrolled through the state’s health exchange last year were eligible for financial assistance to help them lower the cost of coverage.

The final deadline for enrollment is Jan. 31. Those who don’t have coverage -- either through the exchange, their employer, or other avenues -- by then could face a fine of nearly $700 or 2.5 percent of their annual income, whichever is more.