Longmont built a city-owned fiber network years before most of the country, and that broadband has quietly turned a manufacturing town in the St. Vrain valley into a magnet for remote workers and independent contractors. People who carry their job in a laptop usually carry their health insurance question with them too, and in Colorado the answer looks different than it does in most states.
The rules here
| Short-term products | Not available in Colorado |
| Products available | ACA marketplace, Medicaid (Health First Colorado), supplemental |
| Exchange type | State exchange (Connect for Health Colorado) |
| Medicaid expansion | Yes |
What's available in Longmont
| Coverage line | Available here | Key limit | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACA marketplace plans | Yes | Open enrollment or a qualifying event | ACA plans |
| Short-term medical | No | Colorado's limits are strict enough that no carrier offers these plans in the state | Not sold here |
| Extended short-term (multi-year) | No | There is no short-term market in Colorado to extend | Not sold here |
| Fixed indemnity | No | Not sold in Colorado | Not sold here |
| Supplemental (accident, critical illness, dental, vision) | Yes | Pays defined benefits alongside a primary plan | Accident · Critical illness · Dental · Vision |
Supplemental plans pay fixed benefits for specific events and are not major medical coverage. They work alongside a marketplace plan, not in place of one.
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 (Health First Colorado) | $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 |
If you work for yourself in Longmont, the individual marketplace benchmark above is your starting point. Whether a subsidy applies depends on your household income and size for the year. Estimates are not guarantees, so have a licensed agent run your actual figures before you count on a number.
Averages from federal data and our own client base, not quotes. Your price depends on your age, household, income, and plan choice.
Longmont at a glance
Longmont sits in eastern Boulder County with a longtime base of tech and manufacturing employment and a growing population of remote workers drawn partly by its municipal fiber service. Housing costs run below Boulder proper, which keeps pulling young families and self-employed professionals northeast along the Diagonal Highway.
| Population | County | Metro |
|---|---|---|
| ~99,000 | Boulder (FIPS 08013) | Boulder |
Three Longmont situations
Priya, 34, remote software contractor. She billed well last year and expects to again, so a subsidy may be small or zero. Her real work is plan selection: comparing deductibles and networks on Connect for Health Colorado, then confirming her Longmont clinic is in network for the exact plan she picks.
Tom, 52, runs a two-person cabinetry shop. Group coverage for two employees never penciled out, so he and his lead installer each buy individual marketplace plans. His income varies by season, and since subsidies reconcile against annual income at tax time, he updates his estimate with the exchange when a big job lands.
Renata, 24, brewery taproom staff. Her hours fluctuate and her income sits near the Medicaid line. Some years she qualifies for Health First Colorado, other years a heavily subsidized marketplace plan makes more sense. The application checks both at once, and Medicaid enrollment stays open all year.
How Colorado's rules work
Colorado's caps on short-term limited duration insurance are so restrictive that no carrier sells the product in the state. There is no market to shop, and the same goes for fixed indemnity plans. This page will not pitch you a bridge plan that does not exist here.
The state pairs that restriction with broader access on the ACA side. Colorado runs its own exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, where open enrollment generally begins November 1 with dates set by the exchange. Colorado also expanded Medicaid, so Health First Colorado covers adults based on income with no coverage gap and no waiting for an enrollment window. Between jobs, your realistic options are a Special Enrollment Period after losing coverage, COBRA from a former employer, or Medicaid if income has dropped.
Ready to compare your options? Get a personalized quote from a licensed Colorado agent. No obligation, no spam, real answers.
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.