Cigna is leaving Colorado, and 40,853 people cannot auto-renew

If you buy your own health insurance from Cigna here in Colorado, your plan ends on December 31, 2026, and there isn't anything for it to renew into.

Cigna is leaving the individual market in this state after this plan year. The Division of Insurance named it in the same release as the 2027 rate requests, and Cigna's own withdrawal notice to the Commissioner puts the number of Coloradans affected at 40,853.

Your current coverage is fine, by the way — it runs to the end of the year, claims and all. What's changed is that the usual January answer, where you let the renewal happen and get on with your life, isn't available to you this time.

And if you have a Cigna dental plan, it isn't going anywhere. Cigna is leaving individual medical coverage only.

Why this matters more than a rate increase

Most people in this market never shop. Around seven in eight Connect for Health Colorado customers are renewing something they already had, and the whole system is built to make that easy.

A carrier leaving breaks that, because there's no closest-equivalent plan to move you into — the company that would have written it won't be here. So if you do nothing through the fall, you'll reach January 1 with no coverage at all.

That's the reason this article exists. Everything else we write is about helping you shop better. This one is about whether you shop.

Don't leave Cigna early

You may hear that you can switch now, and there is a Special Enrollment Period for this. But a new carrier starts you over: whatever you've already paid toward this year's deductible and out-of-pocket maximum stays with Cigna, so a switch in November can mean paying a deductible twice in one year.

For most people the better plan is to keep Cigna through December 31 and have the new plan start on January 1. If something makes you want to move sooner, talk to us before you do.

Off-exchange customers too, and you're the ones most likely to miss it

Cigna is dropping the plans it sold through Connect for Health Colorado and the ones it sold directly. So if you bought yours straight from Cigna rather than through the exchange, nobody at Connect for Health Colorado has your file, and the letter from the carrier is the only warning you're going to get. Please open it.

Start with your doctors, not with the price

The instinct is to sort by premium and pick the cheapest plan that looks similar to what you had. It's worth doing the other thing first.

Colorado carriers run different networks, and two plans at the same price can be completely different on the question of whether the people already treating you are inside them. So write down every doctor and every prescription before you look at a single quote. In Larimer and Weld counties this really isn't a formality — the large health systems here participate unevenly across carriers, it changes from one plan year to the next, and checking it takes us a few minutes where it would take you an afternoon.

There's one new carrier for 2027, Colorado Access Choice, with seven plans in 14 counties. They're all in the Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo rating areas, so it isn't an option in Larimer or Weld. If you live in Boulder County, add it to the comparison and check its network before its price.

The dates

Open Enrollment starts November 1, 2026. If you enroll by December 15, 2026, your new plan begins January 1 with no gap, and the window itself stays open until January 15 — but enroll after December 15 and your coverage doesn't start until February 1, which is a month of paying your own way.

So work to the December date rather than the one at the far end.

What we'd tell you on the phone

Two things, and neither of them is a plan name.

The first is that your financial help doesn't travel with your carrier. It attaches to you, your county and your income, so losing Cigna doesn't cost you a premium tax credit or Colorado Premium Assistance. A lot of people assume the help was part of the plan, and it wasn't.

The second is that this is a good year to actually check the number rather than assume it. Rates went up an average of 10%, a carrier left, and a new one arrived — and any of those three can move what you pay, in either direction.

We'll run your doctors and your prescriptions against what's available where you live, tell you which plan fits and why, and say so plainly if the cheapest one is the right answer. No charge, no obligation, and a licensed advisor rather than a call center.