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Dec. 15 last day to sign up for individual market health insurance coverage starting Jan. 1

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December 15, 2021, 12:24 pm

Today (Wednesday, Dec. 15) is the deadline for people to buy 2022 health insurance coverage on the individual market if they need that coverage to kick in Jan. 1. The deadline for coverage starting Feb. 1 is Jan. 15.

People who don’t get their health insurance through their employer (about 8 to 10% of Colorado residents) will find massive savings in 2022 over 2021 premium prices, thanks to the American Rescue Plan

You have to sign up through the state of Colorado’s health insurance exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, and an insurance broker can help navigate that process free of charge.

RealVail.com uses the Wright Insurance Company in Eagle (970-328-6300 or bwright@vail.net for owner Bethe Wright).

RealVail.com is saving approximately $500 a month in 2022 for an Anthem silver plan for a family of four. Colorado’s U.S. Senate delegation hopes to extend those premium tax credits beyond 2022 with passage of the Build Back Better Act.

Real Vail recently wrote about that aspect of the never-ending battle for lower health insurance rates on the state’s Western Slope for the Colorado Times Recorder.

Rural Colorado in general, and the Western Slope in particular, have some of the highest individual market premiums in the nation, disproportionately impacting self-employed workers, independent contractors and small businessowners.

RealVail.com has covered this issue for years, in print, online and over the airwaves, with recent interviews on Krystal 93 in Summit County and last spring on KUNC in northern Colorado.

The state of Colorado has led the charge in trying to bring down these costs through reinsurance, its own exchange, a public option to increase competition and Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

RealVail.com also produced an article for Vail Health on community health efforts to get as many low-income residents of Eagle County signed up for health insurance as possible. The more people who are insured, the lower the costs for everyone.

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.