In mid-August, Patty Fontneau, the chief executive officer of Connect for Health Colorado, left her post to take a job with Cigna. ¶ It was the latest controversy in a far-from-perfect year for Colorado's state exchange and Fontneau both: there was a great deal of criticism surrounding the compensation plans for Fontneau and other executives; and in March, a mid-level manager for the exchange, Christa Ann McClure, was forced to resign after allegations of theft and fraud surfaced—allegations made by a previous employer in Montana.

“We set three models—one at 75,000, one at 136,000, and our high-level model is 200,000 people enrolled,” Davis notes. “We hit our mid-level model in late June, so we're really proud of that.

“Our state exchange is not like the exchanges in most states,” he continues, “because ours is a stand-alone nonprofit organization. We're working in partnership with the state to refer citizens for Medicaid, and as of April, 178,000 Coloradans have qualified for Medicaid since we opened our doors. So that's essentially 315,000 Coloradans who have received health insurance as of late June, if you include the public options. So, big-picture, we've had a pretty sincere and large impact of Colorado's health care outlook.”