Connect For Health Colorado: Approaching the Limit on SilverEnhanced Savings Enrollments

Colorado Connect provides a type of financial help, SilverEnhanced Savings, to eligible Coloradans who are undocumented. See Appendix A for qualifications. There is limited funding available for year one of SilverEnhanced Savings. Connect for Health Colorado anticipates that we will hit the maximum allotments of enrollments with SilverEnhanced Savings before Open Enrollment ends in January—likely, in early December.

Impacts to Your Work

Because of the high interest Connect for Health Colorado has seen in the OmniSalud program and number of people qualifying for SilverEnhanced Savings, they highly recommend that customers who may be eligible for SilverEnhanced Savings plans make an appointment with an Assister or Broker and enroll as soon as possible. They recommend that those with existing enrollment appointments in the coming weeks move their appointments to an earlier date, if possible.

Connect for Health Colorado is closely monitoring Colorado Connect enrollments with SilverEnhanced Savings applied. They’ll continue to keep you updated with additional guidance and details.

Background

The Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise funds the SilverEnhanced Savings financial assistance. For plan year 2023, the Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise has allocated funding for 10,000 individuals to receive the SilverEnhanced Savings on Colorado Connect.

Once Colorado Connect has enrolled 10,000 individuals with SilverEnhanced Savings, people who would otherwise be eligible for SilverEnhanced Savings will only be able to enroll in plans at the full cost.

Talking Points

Use these talking points to help guide conversations and answer questions about SilverEnhanced Savings with customers.

• We’re so pleased with the early interest and number of enrollments in the OmniSalud Program on Colorado Connect.
• Many of the people who are enrolling through the OmniSalud Program are also qualifying for SilverEnhanced Savings, which is the financial help that lowers the cost of certain plans to $0.

• Keep in mind, there is limited funding and enrollments available for SilverEnhanced Savings, and the program is a “first come, first serve” basis. For plan year 2023, there is funding for 10,000 individuals to enroll in plans with SilverEnhanced Savings applied.
• Because of the high interest we’ve seen in the program and number of people qualifying for SilverEnhanced Savings, we highly recommend that customers who may be eligible for financial help make an appointment with an Assister or Broker and enroll as soon as possible.

• We recommend that those with existing enrollment appointments in the coming weeks move their appointments to an earlier date, if possible.

• People who are undocumented will still be eligible to enroll in a full-priced plan on Colorado Connect when SilverEnhanced Savings funding has been exhausted. Customers should enroll before January 15, 2023, which is the deadline for Open Enrollment. 

Appendix A: The OmniSalud Program and SilverEnhanced Savings on Colorado Connect

Colorado Option plans will be made available to all Coloradans, regardless of documentation status, to purchase starting November 1, 2022.

WHAT is the OmniSalud Program?

OmniSalud is how Connect For Health Colorado is referring to undocumented Coloradans being able to compare and shop for health insurance plans on Colorado Connect, Connect for Health Colorado's public benefit corporation, and new health insurance shopping platform.

WHAT is SilverEnhanced Savings?

SilverEnhanced Savings is a type of financial help for qualifying OmniSalud customers that offers $0 monthly premiums and requires insurers to pay 94% of medical expenses.

WHO is eligible for SilverEnhanced Savings?

Coloradans without documentation whose income is under the 150% of the Federal Poverty Level (that’s about $20,000/year for an individual and scales up based on household size—see chart below) can qualify for SilverEnhanced Savings financial help. Qualifying customers must purchase plans with “Silver Enhanced” in the plan title to receive $0 premiums.

Applicants who don’t meet the income criteria can still purchase full-priced Colorado Option Bronze, Silver and Gold plans on Colorado Connect.