Written by: Allie Broas, Program Assistant at Colorado Consumer Health Initiative

When it comes to health insurance, there is no time like the present to sign up.  That’s why we’ve teamed up with The Arc Arapahoe & Douglas Counties in an effort to educate the community on the various health insurance options in Colorado.

The time is now! You can sign up for health insurance, receive financial assistance if you are eligible, and know that you will not be denied or charged higher premiums due to a pre-existing condition. What’s better is that now children are also covered under their parents’ plans until they turn 26 years old. Yes, getting covered has never been easier, but now it is also easier for your family to get and stay covered. Though it may be more expensive to cover your children under your health plan, having health insurance for the entire family prevents greater fiscal burdens down the road.

Watch this video featuring Kim Tenure (one of our colleagues at The Arc) to learn about the different insurance options available.

Better health outcomes are an obvious benefit of insuring your family.  As we all know, things happen. Children get sick, people are diagnosed with chronic conditions requiring continuous care or medication, and having health insurance ensures that these instances will not send your family into debt. With health insurance, you’ll have an affordable way to get the care and prescriptions you need when you need it.

With the Affordable Care Act also came a mandate for most health insurance plans to cover a set of preventative services at no cost to you. These services include blood pressure screening, depression screening, diet counseling, and immunization vaccines. These and many more services are essential for families to lead healthy lives and are provided at no cost to you with most health plans. Making sure your entire family is insured and has access to these services is crucial to their health and wellbeing.

Look – the health care system is still far from perfect. Some health insurance plans still have premiums that for many are still considered unaffordable, hospital bills can be excessive, and prescription medicine can sometimes come with a hefty price tag. Thankfully, you have thousands of people in Colorado alone working around the clock to make quality health care accessible, affordable, and equitable. We’ve made a lot of progress in these past few years and continue to work to make sure everyone in Colorado is covered. Until then, it still is far better to make sure your family is insured than to worry about what a fall or bout of strep throat will do to your pocketbook.

If you found this post helpful, please pass it on to others.  You can also visit this link to learn more information about Medicaid, Child Health Plan Plus, and Connect for Health Colorado.

Disclaimer: The Arc Arapahoe & Douglas Counties does not endorse or recommend any service, therapy, provider, etc., discussed in this publication. This blog post is for informational purposes only and reflects the opinion of the author.

Photo Credit: BigStockPhoto.com