by Scot Kersgaard, JVA Consulting

Open enrollment is here again at Connect for Health Colorado.

Luke Clarke, director of communications at Connect for Health, says the application process has been improved and simplified since the last open enrollment period.

One new feature is that people can search by medication to see which plans provide the best coverage for medications they need. “Premiums are not the only thing that determine cost,” he said, noting that someone who needs multiple medications may find that a plan with higher premiums actually costs less if it has prescription coverage.

Also, new this enrollment period is that one application takes care of people who qualify for Medicaid as well as those who don’t. As people fill out the application, they are automatically routed to Medicaid if they qualify.

“Buying health insurance is a complex process and people need to consider all their options,” he said. “We are trying to make it as simple and easy to understand as we can.”

JVA Consulting partnered with Connect for Health Colorado and Colorado Health Care Policy and Financing this year to gather input, which was used to help the two agencies improve the application process.

Possibly the snazziest new feature of the online application is Kyla, an avatar who guides people through the process, answering questions as they come up. Kyla was featured in a New York Times article earlier this week focused on how states are improving the application process.

If people have a relationship with a doctor that they want to keep, the new application allows them to filter plans based on whether that doctor is a provider. People can also window-shop or search for plans without entering all the information needed to actually sign up.

Clarke says the state does not track statistics related to the number of people who have health insurance, and the application does not ask people if they are currently insured. He says, though, that Gallup has polled Coloradans on the question and that the number of uninsured has dropped from 17% before to the opening of the Colorado Health Exchange to 11% today.

Even the 150,000 people who have already signed up for health insurance through the Colorado Health Exchange need to sign up again as all policies expire at the end of the year. Clarke says some people will find that their rates have gone up, but that rates overall have gone up only by about 1%, and that most people will be able to find a plan at about the same rate they had this year.