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Marguerite Salazar is the current Insurance Commissioner of the Colorado Division of Insurance.
Salazar obtained a Master's degree in counseling psychology. For twenty years she was the President and Chief Executive Officer of health clinic provider Valley-Wide Health Systems. She was appointed by Barack Obama as the Region VIII director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she was responsible for implementing the Affordable Care Act in six states.
On July 22, 2013 Salazar was appointed to be Insurance Commissioner of Colorado, effective August 19 of that year. Among her first challenges were to implement Affordable Care Act stages, and dealing with the 2013 wildfire season. Salazar found that Colorado had the highest Affordable Care Act rates in the nation, so she re-drew the district lines in an attempt to mitigate rate disparity. As Insurance Commissioner, Salazar has been reluctant to expand regulations by creating new Division of Insurance rules, even where she finds current rules inadequate, in recognition of the political climate of Colorado.
She has served on the Board of Governors for Colorado State University.