Connect for Health Colorado

Legal name: Colorado Health Benefit Exchange

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
453733823
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
1-855-752-6749
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Health, General and Financing

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$72,273,797
Expenses
$59,284,311
Assets
$72,790,021
Liabilities
$14,768,932

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KEVIN PATTERSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • KEVIN PATTERSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $439,305 total reported compensation
  • BRIAN BRAUN (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $354,761 total reported compensation
  • KELLY GUTHNER (CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER): $351,605 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of connect for health Colorado is to increase access, affordability, and choice for individuals and small employers purchasing health insurance in Colorado. (see on schedule o)connect for health Colorado is intended to reflect the needs of our state, seek Colorado-specific solutions, and explore the maximum number of options available to the state of Colorado in meeting the goals of access, affordability, and choice.

What it reported doing in 2024

The continuation of the federal enhanced premium tax credits and Colorado's cost sharing reductions helped lower the cost of monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs for 80% of our customers. Through these savings programs and continued efforts to inform people of their health insurance options and available financial help, c4hco saw record enrollments this year. Nearly 296,500 coloradans signed up for coverage during open enrollment for 2025. This total was a 19% increase from the prior open enrollment period. With the growth in health coverage provided through c4hco, the state saw an increase of over $300 million in federal financial help. (see on schedule o)areas of significant focus this year included: customer operations.our customer service center continued to build on the momentum and success we experienced in streamlining operations last year when we brought systems in-house and created a dedicated internal customer support team. Thanks to these improvements and the implementation of an intuitive knowledge base this year, the average call duration decreased by a full minute between december 2023 and december 2024, leading to a customer satisfaction rate of 87% nearly 40% higher than five years ago.broker and assister customer support.about 66% of all enrollments for plan year 2025 were completed with the help of a health insurance broker or assister. This year, we expanded our assistance network, welcoming new community-based referral partners, including social service agencies and health care providers. Additionally, connect for health Colorado added 17 new storefront locations to provide enrollment help at 63 enrollment centers across the state. Improvements to the broker portal allowed for seamless integration with customer information and sped up the enrollment process. These improvements contributed to nearly 178,000 customers enrolling with the help of a broker.modernizing systems.with an increased emphasis on a customer's experience when using the marketplace platform, c4hco focused on continuing to move towards a combined application and shopping/enrollment process. Accomplishments during the year included enhancements to our renewal process, contributing to 83% of our enrollments coming from returning customers. Additionally, improvements were made to our customer payment and testing processes.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 92% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.2%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 83.8%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $512.48 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.23; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4.3% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.5% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.7% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 68.2% of revenue deployed · 83.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $49.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $439K · 19 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $13.1M reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.