Coloradans continue to sign up for health insurance

(Photo: Courtesy of the National Cancer Institute)
<p>Young patient sits on doctor&#039;s lap.</p>
Photo: Health Care (iStock)

That's a much faster pace than those signing up for new, private insurance under the law.

Connect for Health, Colorado's new marketplace for insurance under the federal health care law says it signed up about 420 people a day for private coverage in the first half of January.

The marketplace opened October 1, 2013, and saw a surge in enrollment at the end of December.

Exchange CEO Patty Fontneau says she expects fewer enrollments in the last half of Connect for Health's six-month enrollment window than it saw in the first three months.

"I do believe we've seen the peak," she said.

Connect for health signed up about 57,000 people for private coverage in its first three months. Fontneau doesn't expect that to double in the next three.

"One of our more conservative estimates was 75,000, and I believe we have a really good shot at hitting that," Fontneau added.

The total number of people who've signed up for private coverage now stands at 63,400. The number enrolling in new Medicaid benefits since October first is just over 101,000.