Greeley works for a living in ways the Front Range's newer suburbs do not. The JBS meatpacking complex is one of the city's biggest employers, Weld County's oil and gas fields cycle crews through boom and slower stretches, agriculture surrounds everything, and the University of Northern Colorado adds an academic payroll downtown. Shift work, field work, and seasonal work all share one feature: benefits that depend on this month's employer.
The rules here
| Short-term products | Not available in Colorado |
| Extended short-term (multi-year) | Not available |
| Products available | ACA marketplace, supplemental |
| Exchange type | State-based (Connect for Health Colorado) |
| Open enrollment | Set by the state exchange, generally opening November 1 |
| Medicaid expansion | Yes |
What's available in Greeley
| Coverage line | Available here | Key limit | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACA marketplace plans | Yes | Open enrollment or a qualifying event | ACA plans |
| Short-term medical | No | State restrictions leave no carrier selling | Short-term |
| Extended short-term (multi-year) | No | Zero market under Colorado rules | Extended plans |
| Fixed indemnity | No | Not sold as standalone coverage in Colorado | |
| Supplemental (accident, critical illness, dental, vision) | Yes | Fixed benefits, not major medical | Accident · Critical illness · Dental · Vision |
Supplemental products pay set cash amounts for defined events. They are not minimum essential coverage and do not stand in for a medical plan.
What one person pays for coverage in Colorado
Average monthly premiums for individual coverage. Family pricing differs; quotes are individual.
| Coverage type | Monthly premium (individual) | What that number is |
|---|---|---|
| ACA marketplace (before subsidy) | $673 avg. | State average, before tax credits (CMS Marketplace OEP, 2026).1 |
| ACA marketplace (after average subsidy) | $187 after credit | State average, after the average tax credit, among subsidized enrollees (CMS Marketplace OEP, 2026).1 |
| Employer coverage (single / family) | $698 / $2081 single / family | State average total monthly premium, single / family; employee pays about $159/mo toward single coverage (MEPS-IC, 2024).2 |
| Medicaid | $0 or nominal for those who qualify | Program design, not an average; eligibility is income-based5 |
| Accident | $39.95 median | Among GetHealthPlans.com clients in Colorado with individual coverage, as of July 2026.3 |
| Critical Illness | $55.08 median | Among GetHealthPlans.com clients in Colorado with individual coverage, as of July 2026.3 |
Oilfield years and slow years look nothing alike on a tax return, and the subsidy formula reads the annual total. Estimate conservatively, report changes fast, and treat every projection as unconfirmed until the exchange processes it.
Averages from federal data and our own client base, not quotes. Your price depends on your age, household, income, and plan choice.
Greeley at a glance
Weld County leads Colorado in agricultural production and sits at the center of the state's oil and gas activity, giving Greeley an employment base of processing plants, energy service companies, and farm operations alongside UNC and the county government. Hourly and crew-based work keeps individual coverage in constant demand here.
| Population | County | Metro |
|---|---|---|
| ~109,000 | Weld (FIPS 08123) | Greeley |
Three Greeley situations
Miguel, 40, processing plant line worker picking up a second job. His plant job carries group coverage, but his wife cleans houses independently with no benefits. She buys her own subsidized plan through Connect for Health Colorado, and one application checks where each of the kids belongs at the household's income.
Cassie, 27, oilfield water hauler between crews. When a crew demobilizes, her benefits stop with the paycheck. The coverage loss opens a roughly 60-day Special Enrollment Period, and her off-crew income often qualifies her for Medicaid until the next mobilization.
Frank, 58, farm equipment dealer, self-employed since his twenties. He has bought his own coverage his whole career. These days he pairs a marketplace plan with a critical illness supplement.
How Colorado's rules work
Colorado's restrictions on short-term limited duration insurance are severe enough that no carrier sells the product; the market is zero. State regulation binds regardless of what happens with federal short-term enforcement, so nothing changes that picture from Washington.
Weld County's boom-and-slack employment pattern makes Colorado's alternative machinery worth learning cold. Expanded Medicaid covers adults on income alone, and crew workers between jobs frequently qualify. Marketplace credits through Connect for Health Colorado scale as income rises, with open enrollment on a state-set calendar that generally opens November 1. Qualifying events, including every crew demobilization that ends group coverage, open Special Enrollment Periods. One application checks Medicaid and marketplace eligibility together, and reporting income changes promptly keeps a family covered through the whole cycle.
Boom months and slow months both need coverage. A licensed Colorado agent can build a plan for the whole cycle. No obligation.
Keep reading — more Colorado guides
Premium data methodology. 1 Marketplace premium averages reflect the average monthly premium before advance premium tax credits, the average monthly premium after advance premium tax credits among subsidized enrollees, and the percentage of enrollees receiving advance premium tax credits, for Colorado, as reported in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Marketplace Open Enrollment Period Public Use Files, 2026 plan year, available at cms.gov. Figures are statewide averages across all metal tiers, ages, and household sizes; your premium will differ based on your age, household, income, county, and plan selection.
2 Employer coverage averages reflect the average total monthly premium for single and family coverage at private-sector establishments in Colorado, including both employer and employee contributions, as reported in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance Component (MEPS-IC), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2024 tables, available at meps.ahrq.gov. Employee contribution figure reflects the average employee share of the single-coverage premium. Employer plan costs vary by employer, plan design, and firm size.
3 Client averages are calculated from GetHealthPlans.com (MTG Insurance Agency LLC) internal book-of-business records as of July 15, 2026 and reflect the median or mean monthly premium, as labeled, among active policies providing individual coverage (one covered person) of the stated product type held by our clients residing in the stated state or, where labeled agency-wide, across all states in which we operate. Family and multi-person policies are excluded so that figures reflect what one person pays. Figures are shown only for states and products where our records include a sufficient number of active individual policies to report a meaningful average, with a minimum of ten; combinations below that threshold are not shown. Where a figure is labeled "median," half of our client policies in that group pay less and half pay more. Our client base reflects the products we sell, skews toward medically underwritten coverage, and may not represent all buyers or all plans available in a state. These figures are historical averages of premiums actually paid by our clients, are not quotes, offers, or projections, and are not statements of what any individual will pay. Individual premiums are determined by the insurer at application based on age, location, term length, benefit selections, and underwriting outcomes.
4 No federal or state agency publishes average premium data for short-term limited duration insurance or fixed indemnity insurance. Where we do not display a client-base figure for these products, it is because we do not have sufficient policy volume in that state to report a meaningful average. Short-term and fixed indemnity products are medically underwritten, are not major medical coverage, are not required to cover pre-existing conditions or essential health benefits, and do not constitute minimum essential coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
5 Medicaid and CHIP are public programs, not insurance products sold by this agency. Premiums are $0 or nominal for those who qualify; eligibility is determined by your state based on income, household size, and other factors. The figure shown describes program design, not an average. Contact your state Medicaid agency or HealthCare.gov to check eligibility.