Employer health plans · Colorado
Employer health plans in Colorado
How Colorado employers fund their health plans and which carriers insure them.
2024 plan filings
Employer health plans in Colorado at a glance
Employer plan filings, 2024
Large employer health plans
1,154
form year 2024
Fully insured
576
50% of large plans
Self-funded
550
7% with stop-loss
Small plans
10
fewer details reported
Median premium per person covered
$5,516
insured contracts, all carriers
Insurance carriers for Colorado employer health plans
Insured large plans by carrier group, form year 2024
| Carrier | Plans | Share | Persons covered | Median premium / person | Median broker % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cigna | 276 | 48% | 134,391 | $3,009 | 6.4% |
| Kaiser Permanente | 146 | 25% | 41,955 | $7,472 | 3.7% |
| UnitedHealthcare | 114 | 20% | 58,481 | $5,773 | 4.1% |
| Anthem (Elevance Health) | 52 | 9% | 31,204 | $6,976 | 3.4% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield | 31 | 5% | 5,667 | $6,582 | 4.3% |
| Aetna | 24 | 4% | 13,768 | $6,205 | 4.2% |
| Humana | 2 | 0% | 1,154 | $771 | 5.8% |
Fully insured vs self-funded
Large employer health plans, 2020–2024
| Form year | Large plans | Insured | Self-funded | Self-funded share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1,141 | 655 | 467 | 41% |
| 2021 | 1,121 | 642 | 456 | 41% |
| 2022 | 1,176 | 656 | 494 | 42% |
| 2023 | 1,201 | 650 | 524 | 44% |
| 2024 | 1,154 | 576 | 550 | 48% |
| 2025 (partial) | 952 | 469 | 459 | 48% |
Methodology
How these numbers are calculated
- Sources: employer health plan filings for 2020–2024 (2025 is still coming in and is labelled partial), negotiated rates published by health insurers and hospitals (2026), and Medicare fee schedules for reference.
- Which plans count: large employer health plans, placed in the state of the employer's business address. A carrier's figures count plans with a major-medical insurance contract with that carrier. Self-funded plans that a carrier only administers are not counted under that carrier, and supplemental coverage (dental, vision, accident, hospital indemnity) is excluded.
- Premium per person covered: premium divided by the persons covered on the contract, for contracts covering at least 20 persons.
- Broker pay: commissions and fees paid on each contract, as a share of that contract's premium.
- Network rates: physician negotiated rates for the Employer 50 services, from a sample of providers, shown as a percentage of Medicare. Shown only where the network passes Medlyze's quality checks for the state.
- Hospital prices: commercial negotiated rates (2026) for the whole hospital stay or the hospital's facility charge. Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and individual-market rates are excluded, and so is Humana, whose hospital rates are almost all Medicare. Physician, anesthesia and implant charges are separate.
- Not a judgement: differences describe the plans and rates analyzed. They are not findings about any employer, carrier or broker, and they say nothing about quality or value.
Get the full figures
Brokers: an Employer Account Brief on one employer, or a Prospect List for this market. Employers: a Plan Cost Benchmark for your own plan, with every hospital near your people.