2023 & 2025 Colorado Health Access Survey
Problem
Colorado decision-makers need high-quality data to help improve health insurance coverage and access to care.
Colorado’s policymakers, state agencies, local governments, and community-based organizations needed high-quality data to improve Coloradoans’ overall health, health coverage, and access to care. To meet this need, the Colorado Health Institute (CHI) has conducted the biennial Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS) since 2009. The survey also tracks the effects of policy changes and public health emergencies and examines social determinants of health.
Solution
NORC took over CHAS in 2021 and made several enhancements to improve the quality and utility of the data.
NORC became CHI’s survey partner for the CHAS for the 2021 data collection effort. The approach we designed for the CHAS provides representation of a variety of subgroups to allow the CHI to monitor trends and identify challenges facing Coloradoans. As part of our work, we:
- Supported the development and translation of the survey instrument and recruitment materials.
- Programmed the survey for multimode (phone and web) administration.
- Developed and implemented a complex sampling design to oversample adults from various backgrounds, including age, income, race/ethnicity, household size, and insurance status.
- Collected over 10,000 interviews in English and Spanish.
- Designed complex survey weights.
- New for 2026, we are conducting two short follow-up surveys with individuals who agreed to be recontacted during the 2025 survey.
Result
In 2025, findings helped illustrate that the uninsured rate remained steady in recent years, between 4.6 percent and 6.7 percent since 2015.
In 2025, data collected by NORC helped CHI to understand the changing landscape of health access and usage in Colorado.
- 94 percent of Coloradans had health insurance.
- 28 percent of Coloradans missed health care due to cost.
- Nearly half of Colorado renters were affected by food, housing, or health care affordability challenges, compared with 27 percent of homeowners.
- Half as many Coloradans ages 5-17 and 50-64 failed to receive needed mental health care compared to 2023.
Project Director
Related Tags
Project Leads
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Barbara Fernandez
Associate DirectorProject Director -
David Dutwin
Executive Director and Senior Vice PresidentSenior Research Methodologist -
Stas Kolenikov
Principal StatisticianSenior Statistician
“It’s gratifying knowing how widely used the high-quality data we collected is to state and local agencies to improve the health and health care of its constituents.”
