Less than 24 hours ago, Colorado HealthOP announced on their Facebook page that they were here to stay:

We’re thrilled to report the CO-OP is exceeding budget projections and is on track to start paying down our federal loans.

We also have three viable financing options to ensure we have the capital reserves to meet our regulatory requirements. One option includes reinsurance financing. Another is receiving capital support from another successful CO-OP. And finally, we are talking with a private investor.
We’re working hard to ensure that we’re here to stay. #believeit

But state insurance regulators are forcing it to shut down due to financial insecurity. Colorado AP reporter Kristen Wyatt announced via Twitter that the largest insurer on Colorado’s health exchange has indeed collapsed.

BREAKING: The largest insurer on Colorado’s health insurance exchange, @COHealthOP, collapses, becoming nation’s 5th failed ACA co-op

— Kristen Wyatt (@APkristenwyatt) October 16, 2015

This announcement comes just days after both Tennessee and Kentucky announced closures of their co-ops as well.  Colorado is now the 7th co-op to fold – leaving only 16 of 23 operating.  To date, the Colorado HealthOP has received $72 million of the $2.4 billion given in low-interest federal loans to subsidize these marketplace experiments.

The latest numbers show that approximately 80,000 Coloradans are insured through the co-op and will need to find new plans and providers.  They join the over 400,000 others who have lost their plans under failed ObamaCare cooperatives.

Just last week I reported that the federal government was reneging on previous promises and would be shorting insurance companies $2.5 billion that they were guaranteed under ObamaCare.  Without those funds, expect more of these closures.

Members of Colorado HealthOP will be covered until the end of 2015, and the next Open Enrollment period begins on November 1, 2015 and runs through January 31, 2016.  The newly uninsured need to work fast if they’re going to avoid their “shared responsibility payment” for not having approved coverage.

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Kristina Ribali is the Senior Coalitions Director for the Foundation for Government Accountability.  Follow her on Twitter for the latest on ObamaCare or email her at [email protected]