DENVER (AP) — Colorado is a step closer to creating a program designed to lower health insurance premiums on the Affordable Care Act individual market.

If approved by federal officials in Washington, D.C., a state reinsurance program could help about 250,000 Coloradans who buy health coverage on the market set up under former President Barack Obama's health care law.

Reinsurance allows private insurers to lower premiums by having the state take on their highest-cost cases.

Colorado's application for approval is complete, the Department of Health and Human Services told state Insurance Commissi...