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What Are the Connect for Health Colorado Income Limits for 2026? Health First Colorado, CHP+, and Tax Credit Lines by Family Size

Written and reviewed by Dick Tracy, licensed health insurance broker (NPN 20414610) · Published September 18, 2026

🔍 Find my family's lines 📊 The full 2026 table 🧮 Estimate my tax credit in dollars

For 2026 coverage, Connect for Health Colorado gives a federal premium tax credit to households up to 400% of the poverty level: $62,600 for one person and $128,600 for a family of four. One dollar over and the credit is zero, because the enhanced credits expired December 31, 2025. Under that line Colorado adds its own money: Colorado Premium Assistance takes another $80 a month off for the first person on the plan and $29 for each additional person, automatically, for households that get the federal credit. Adults under the Health First Colorado line ($1,769 a month for one person and $3,658 for four on the state's chart) go to Health First Colorado, the state's Medicaid program, and children and pregnant women are covered through Child Health Plan Plus up to 260% of poverty ($85,800 a year for a family of four). Every line for households of one to eight is below, then the doors if you are over the top one. I educate, you decide.

The full Colorado income chart for 2026

Two programs, two poverty tables. The tax-credit range for 2026 coverage runs on the 2025 poverty guidelines ($15,650 for one person plus $5,500 each), because the federal rule sets a plan year's eligibility with the prior year's table. Health First Colorado and CHP+ run on the 2026 guidelines ($15,960 plus $5,680), on charts that took effect April 1, 2026. Connect for Health Colorado does not publish a dollar chart for the tax credit, and the one on the state Medicaid agency's site quotes about $63,840 for one person and $132,000 for four, which are the 2027 coverage figures, not 2026. The lines the IRS will use for 2026 are $62,600 and $128,600. On the adult line, the state's chart prints 133% of poverty; federal rules then disregard five percentage points of the poverty level, which is why you will see 138% quoted elsewhere. The state does not publish 138% dollars, so I show the figures it does publish. If you are within a few hundred dollars of that line, apply and let the state decide.

Sources: Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, MAGI Medicaid monthly income guidelines effective April 1, 2026; HCPF, Child Health Plan Plus; Connect for Health Colorado, Health First Colorado and CHP+. The state's monthly limits behind the table: adults $1,769 for one, $2,399 for two, $3,028 for three, $3,658 for four; children $1,889, $2,561, $3,233, $3,905; pregnant women $2,594, $3,517, $4,440, $5,363; CHP+ $3,458, $4,689, $5,920, $7,150. For 2027 coverage the tax credit table moves to the 2026 guidelines: $63,840 for one and $132,000 for four at the cliff.

What Colorado adds: $80 a month of state help and a reinsurance discount

When the enhanced federal credits were about to expire, Colorado called a special session and passed HB25B-1006. Two things came out of it. The first is Colorado Premium Assistance, new for 2026: $80 a month for the first household member on the plan and $29 for each additional member who pays a premium, or whatever premium is left after the federal credit if that is smaller. It is applied automatically, it is not claimed on a tax return, and it is not paid back. The catch is who gets it: households from 100% to 400% of poverty who are receiving the federal credit. Over the line you get neither. Connect for Health Colorado reports 176,410 people receiving it, with an average net premium of $131.21 for customers who have both kinds of help, and the state has said it continues for 2027.

The second is a bigger reinsurance program, which pays part of the largest claims so carriers file lower rates. The Division of Insurance puts the 2026 effect at a 21.3% average premium reduction statewide, from 13.1% in Pueblo and 18.0% in Denver up to 39.4% in Grand Junction. That discount is in the sticker price, so it helps people over the line too, and it is the only state help that does. Colorado also runs OmniSalud for residents who cannot use the exchange because of immigration status, with no premium under 150% of poverty, but funding was cut for 2026 and the spots were given out by lottery.

Sources: Connect for Health Colorado, Colorado Premium Assistance; Connect for Health Colorado, 2026 open enrollment report; Colorado Division of Insurance, October 27, 2025; HB25B-1006; Connect for Health Colorado, OmniSalud.

What Connect for Health Colorado plans cost in 2026, and who is leaving

Sources: KFF, 2026 benchmark premiums; KFF, marketplace enrollment; Connect for Health Colorado, January 22, 2026.

Colorado's Division of Insurance did not lead with the sticker increase when it announced 2026 rates. It led with what people would actually pay: an average net premium increase of about 101% for the roughly 225,000 Coloradans who get a subsidy, because the federal credit shrank at the same time prices rose. Without the special-session bill the division said it would have been 174%, and it estimated about 75,000 people would lose coverage. The approved sticker increase averaged about 21.2%, according to the rate filings tracked by ACA Signups; carriers had asked for 28.4%. Sign-ups held up better than feared, 277,228 against 282,481, a 2% dip, though new customers fell about 24% and cancellations rose 83%. All six carriers stayed for 2026. For 2027 that changes: Cigna is leaving Colorado's individual market, Colorado Access is entering, and carriers requested an average increase of 11%. Cigna members get a special enrollment period that runs until March 1, 2027.

Sources: Colorado Division of Insurance, October 27, 2025; ACA Signups, Colorado 2026 rate changes; Colorado Division of Insurance, July 16, 2025; Connect for Health Colorado, what's new.

Health First Colorado and CHP+: adults, children, and pregnancy

Health First Colorado is Colorado's Medicaid program. Adults 19 to 64 qualify at the adult line in the table, children under 19 up to 142% of poverty, and pregnant women up to 195%. Above those lines, children and pregnant women move to Child Health Plan Plus, which runs to 260% of poverty: $7,150 a month, $85,800 a year, for a family of four. The state says it is free to enroll in CHP+; copays vary by income, there are none for pregnancy care, and what a family pays out of pocket is capped at 5% of income. Since January 2025, children and pregnant women can qualify for both programs regardless of immigration status. The practical point for a family on Connect for Health Colorado: in a household of four earning $80,000, the children belong in CHP+ and only the adults go on the marketplace plan, which changes the math on the whole family's coverage.

Sources: HCPF, MAGI Medicaid income guidelines effective April 1, 2026; HCPF, Child Health Plan Plus.

Health First Colorado changes coming October 2026 and January 2027

Colorado has posted a timeline for the federal changes. In October 2026, eligibility ends for certain lawfully present immigrants; the state estimates up to 7,000 members may lose coverage. In January 2027, work requirements, six-month eligibility checks, and shorter backdated coverage take effect for adults 19 to 64 who qualify on income alone. The state began mailing letters in September 2026 to about 377,000 adults. To comply you need at least 80 hours in a month of work or other qualifying activity, or at least $580 earned from paid work. The first group comes up for renewal or termination by the end of March 2027. If you are near the $1,769 a month line as a single person, the practical effect is that income that drifts above it, or a missed six-month check, can put you on Connect for Health Colorado mid-year. Losing Health First Colorado is a qualifying event, so report the change the month it happens.

Sources: HCPF, H.R. 1 timeline; HCPF, September 1, 2026; HCPF, H.R. 1 key changes.

Open enrollment and special enrollment on Connect for Health Colorado

Open enrollment for 2027 coverage runs November 1, 2026 through January 15, 2027. Enroll by December 15 for coverage that starts January 1; enroll from December 16 through January 15 and coverage starts February 1. Outside the window you need a qualifying event, reported within 60 days. Colorado has two that many states do not: a pregnancy certified by a health care provider opens a special enrollment period, and Tax Time Enrollment lets an uninsured household check a box on the Colorado state tax return to get one. Losing Health First Colorado or CHP+ qualifies any time of year, and both programs take applications year-round. A change in income by itself only counts if you are already enrolled. The dates for every state I work in are on my 2027 dates page.

Sources: Connect for Health Colorado, state solutions and 2027 dates; Connect for Health Colorado, when can I buy insurance; Connect for Health Colorado, Tax Time Enrollment.

Over the line in Colorado? Fewer doors than Texas, more than you think

Colorado is one of the stricter states I work in. Individual major medical is guaranteed issue at the same price regardless of health, and the state regulates short-term plans so tightly, six months at most with no renewal and the same benefit rules as a regular plan, that no carrier sells them here. Colorado has no state mandate or penalty, but that does not make going bare a plan. For a household over $128,600, the state's $80 is gone along with the federal credit, and what is left is the sticker price, about $557 a month for one 40-year-old on the benchmark silver, already discounted by reinsurance. The door I open first for a healthy owner in that spot is a pre-established ERISA group plan: group rates, no payroll or employees required, and a true national PPO network of the PHCS and MultiPlan type instead of a narrow Front Range HMO, which matters even more on the Western Slope. The second door is the same Connect for Health Colorado plans bought on or off the exchange, which is the right call for anyone with a health condition. The third is the supplemental layer for the deductible. I walk through all three on the Colorado self-employed guide. Colorado's median household income is $97,113, so a lot of ordinary two-earner families are standing close to the $128,600 line. If you are within $10,000 of it, a Solo 401(k) or SEP contribution, run with your tax professional, is the first lever to pull.

Sources: healthinsurance.org, Colorado short-term rules; Census ACS 2024 one-year estimate, Colorado median household income.

Common questions about Connect for Health Colorado income limits