Colorado program
Keeping the work plan after a job ends
A Colorado route to keep an employer's insured group health plan after the job ends.
What it is
A Colorado route to keep an employer's insured group health plan after the job ends.
Keeping the same plan can preserve access to a child's cancer team after a job ends. Colorado continuation has its own coverage-history and election rules. Its deadlines differ from federal COBRA.
Eligibility rules
- You need at least six months of continuous coverage under the group plan or a plan it replaced.
- The state mandate applies to qualifying insured group policies, not private self-funded ERISA plans. A public employer’s name alone does not settle coverage. An employer need not offer this state route to someone covered by Medicare or Medicaid.
What you get
- Up to 18 months on the same group plan.
- Continued access under that plan's existing coverage rules.
What the help includes
- You pay the employer's share and your own share of the premium. The monthly cost can rise sharply.
- Continuation generally keeps you in the existing group plan, subject to its usual changes, authorization rules and eligibility terms. It does not freeze the provider network or every treatment approval. Other group coverage and other statutory conditions can end continuation early.
If you decide to apply
- Ask the employer for the state-continuation notice and the full premium amount.
- If you choose it, send the written election and payment together and keep proof of receipt.
Employer benefits office and the insurance carrier · Official page ↗
After you ask
- The employer must send the notice within 10 days of the job ending. You have 30 days from the job ending to choose and pay; if no notice came, 60 days.
Good to know
You have only 30 days after the job ends to choose and pay the first premium, much shorter than COBRA's 60. Ask HR for the notice the day the job ends.
Other details
- State continuation and federal COBRA use different triggers and deadlines. Reduced hours alone do not automatically trigger the state employment-termination provision; the administrator confirms any separate option.
Official sources
“If work coverage ends, could Colorado continuation preserve our child's care, and is its full premium worth paying compared with other plans? Could you help us check eligibility and the deadlines?”
Why I’m asking: I want to compare the cost of keeping the same plan with the risk of changing cancer teams.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Elect in writing and pay within 30 days of the last day of work.
Your social worker
The employer must send the notice; a letter postmarked within ten days counts.
The care team
Nothing.
- Who decides
- The employer and the carrier.
- Ask HR
- “I am electing to continue the group coverage under Colorado law. Here is the payment. Please confirm the coverage has not lapsed.”
How to apply
First step: Write to the employer electing to continue the coverage and send the payment with it.
- Write to the employer electing to continue, and send the payment with it, within 30 days of the last day.
- Compare the full premium against a Marketplace plan before deciding, but do not miss the 30 days while you compare.
Where it starts: Tell the employer in writing that you elect to continue the coverage, and pay at the same time.
What to gather
- The last day of work
- The plan's full monthly cost, both shares
How long: Up to 18 months, ending earlier if other group coverage starts.
Clock: The election and the payment are both due within 30 days of the last day of employment; 60 days if the employer never sent the notice.
What a yes looks like
The same insurance card keeps working and the premium bill comes from the employer.
What a no looks like, and the next move
If the employer says no, ask whether the plan is self-funded, and go to the Marketplace within your 60-day window.
Watch out
- The usual election and payment deadline is 30 days after employment terminates.
- If the required notice was not given, the statutory payment window is 60 days after employment terminates.
- You pay the employer's share as well as your own, so the cost jumps.
If they say no, quote this: Colorado Revised Statutes 10-16-108: an employee continuously covered for at least six months may elect to continue the coverage for up to eighteen months.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
Up to 18 months on the same group plan after the job ends, paying both shares of the premium.
- $18 — Maximum continuation period
- $6 — Prior continuous coverage required
- $30 — Election and payment deadline after the job ends
- $60 — Payment deadline when the employer never sent the notice
Covers: Continuation under the group plan, subject to its current network, benefits and authorization rules.
Legal protection: A mailed employer notice postmarked within ten days of the end of employment satisfies the notice rule
What it costs the family: The full premium: the employee's own contribution plus the employer's.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Prior coverage
- At least six months continuously covered under the group plan or one it replaced
- Plan types
- Employer group plans issued by a carrier. Whether every self-funded or public-employer plan carries this was not established.
- Exclusions
- An employer need not offer it to a person covered by Medicare or Medicaid
The trap: The deadline is short and it is not just a form: the election AND the payment are due within 30 days of the job ending. If the employer never sent the notice, you have 60 days from the end of employment to pay and keep the coverage.
Where I read this
- Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, Title 10 - Insurance — Colorado General Assembly, Office of Legislative Legal Services, read September 10, 2026