Lawfully present in Colorado? Your financial help may change in 2027.

Starting January 1, 2027, a federal law changes who can get financial help with a marketplace health plan. If you're a U.S. citizen, none of this applies to you. If you're in the country lawfully on another status, it might, and it's better to know before your plan renews.

The change is to financial help, not to coverage. Everyone it reaches can still buy a plan through Connect for Health Colorado. What some people lose is the help that lowers the price.

Who keeps financial help

These groups aren't affected, and they still qualify for financial help on the basis of their immigration status:

• U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals
• Lawful permanent residents, meaning green card holders
• Cuban and Haitian entrants
• People living here under a Compact of Free Association, from Micronesia, Palau or the Marshall Islands

Who may lose it

Other lawfully present immigrants may no longer qualify. Connect for Health Colorado names these groups:

• Refugees and asylees
• People granted humanitarian parole
• Survivors of trafficking with a pending or approved visa application
• People with deferred action
• People on non-immigrant visas

For someone in one of these groups, the federal premium tax credit, the reduced deductibles on Silver plans and Colorado Premium Assistance would all stop. They could still enroll, at full price.

The word "may" is there on purpose. The exchange decides each person's eligibility from their own application, and two people who seem to be in the same group can get different answers. Nobody, including us, can tell you that you'll lose your help before that decision is made.

Your 2026 help doesn't change

If you get financial help now, you keep it through December 31, 2026. The change starts with 2027 coverage.

What to do during Open Enrollment

1. Read the renewal notice the exchange sends in late October, and look for what it says about your financial help for 2027.
2. Check that your application is complete and current, including your immigration information. Missing or out-of-date details can produce a wrong answer, and they're fixable.
3. If your help does change, compare plans at full price before you settle on the one you were renewed into. Without the help, a different plan can come out cheaper.

Once you don't qualify for help, the exchange will also show you plans sold off the exchange, labeled "Not eligible for savings." At full price, an off-exchange Silver plan costs less than the matching Silver plan on the exchange, so compare those as well.

Enroll by December 15 and your plan starts on January 1.

OmniSalud, and a lottery with a November deadline

Colorado also runs OmniSalud, through a separate site called Colorado Connect, for people who can't get coverage through Connect for Health Colorado because of their immigration status. Its SilverEnhanced Savings lowers what a Silver plan costs, and the number of places is limited.

Some lawfully present immigrants who lose financial help under the federal change may be able to enter the OmniSalud lottery for one of those places. For 2027:

• Lottery entries are open from November 1 to November 30, 2026, and the drawing is on December 1, 2026
• Entering is free, and Colorado Connect will never ask you for money to enter or to improve your chances, so anyone who does is running a scam
• Entering doesn't guarantee you a place
• People with SilverEnhanced Savings pay $15 a month for each person enrolled, the first time the program has charged a premium

If you have SilverEnhanced Savings now, it doesn't renew on its own. You have to update your application, choose a plan and finish enrolling by November 30, 2026, or you lose your place.

Ask before you assume

The worst outcome here is somebody who still qualifies hearing a rumor, deciding they've lost their help, and dropping their coverage. The next worst is somebody who has lost it finding out from a full-price bill in January.

One conversation before December 15 prevents both. We'll go through your notice and your application with you and tell you plainly where you stand.