June 3, 2011: On June 1, 2011, Colorado became the seventh state to put a health insurance exchange into law and the first to pass such a law through a divided Legislature, with several Republicans voting for the bill in Colorado’s Republican-led House.  The federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that states establish their own exchanges by 2014 or the federal government will establish one for them.

Colorado’s exchange will be run as an independent non-profit organization with initial funding from a federal grant.  The exchange will be overseen by a nine-member board.  Colorado health officials anticipate that the exchange will be functional in late 2013 or early 2014.

Besides Colorado, states that have passed ACA-related legislation establishing state-run exchanges include: California, Washington, Vermont, West Virginia, Hawaii, and Maryland.

For more information about state options for implementing exchanges under the ACA, see SHADAC’s issue brief on the topic: “Health Insurance Exchanges: Implementation and Data Considerations for State and Existing Models for Comparison.”