Colorado insurance regulators to discuss premiums

Colorado insurance regulators have been taking a look at why health insurance premiums vary so widely between urban and rural areas, and they’re releasing some of their findings Friday.

The Colorado Division of Insurance is responding to complaints from mountain areas where health insurance premiums under the new health care law are high.

Health care has always been more expensive in far-flung communities, where there are fewer doctors, specialists and hospitals and resident tend to be older. But the rural-urban cost divide has been exacerbated by the Affordable Care Act because geography is one of only three determinants insurance companies are allowed to use to set premiums.

Insurance regulators were also considering some sort of announcement on extending deadlines for people whose insurance doesn’t comply with the new law.