Americans buying their own health insurance can sign up for 2027 coverage from Sunday, November 1, 2026, as open enrollment opened on HealthCare.gov and most state marketplaces, with benchmark premiums rising 13% on average and fewer insurers offering plans in many areas.
Enrollment matters this year because it is the second straight year of a double-digit price rise without the extra federal help that softened premiums in recent years. For households without employer coverage, the choices made in the coming weeks will set their health costs for all of 2027.
Open enrollment on HealthCare.gov runs from November 1, 2026, through January 15, 2027, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Shoppers must pick a plan by December 15 for coverage starting January 1, while plans chosen from December 16 through January 15 will start on February 1. State-run marketplaces may set different deadlines.
Benchmark silver plans, the second-lowest-cost silver plans in each area to which federal subsidies are pegged, will cost 13% more on average in 2027, according to an analysis published October 30 by KFF, the nonpartisan health research group, based on CMS and state data. KFF put the rise at 11% in states that use HealthCare.gov and 16% in states that run their own marketplaces.
That 13% figure is an average for the benchmark plan, not a promise about any individual bill. What a shopper pays depends on where they live, their age, their income and the plan they pick, KFF said. CMS, in its own fact sheet released October 30, did not give an average premium change, but said more than 75% of HealthCare.gov shoppers will continue to have access to premiums at or below $50 a month.
Premiums rise for a second straight year
Rising premiums follow a 26% jump in benchmark prices for 2026, KFF said, leaving benchmark premiums 42% higher on average than in 2025 over the two years combined. Cynthia Cox, vice president and director of the ACA program at KFF, told the Associated Press that the increase is driven mainly by rising health care costs and hospital market concentration.
People who will feel the increase most are those who do not qualify for a subsidy, Cox said. The enhanced premium tax credits added during the pandemic expired at the end of 2025, and Congress has not renewed them. For 2027, tax credits are available to shoppers with household income between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, according to KFF, with the cutoff at about $63,840 for a single person. Above that line, shoppers get no subsidy at all.
Out-of-pocket costs are also rising. The most a plan can make an individual pay out of pocket in a year rises to $12,000 in 2027, up from $10,600 in 2026, according to CMS guidance, while the family maximum rises to $24,000 from $21,200.
Enrollment has already fallen since the extra subsidies ended. Paid-up marketplace enrollment stood at about 19.2 million people in February 2026, down 2.6 million, or 12%, from a year earlier, according to KFF figures cited in news reports, and plan selections for 2026 fell by 1.2 million.
Fewer insurers, tighter subsidy rules
Shoppers will also have fewer plans to choose from in many counties. As of October 28, 11 insurers had announced they will leave the marketplace in at least one state for 2027, while seven are entering new states, according to KFF’s insurer tracker. Cigna is leaving the individual market in all 11 states where it sells marketplace plans. CNN reported that roughly 1,200 counties will have only one or two insurers on their exchanges, up from about 800.
New rules will also limit help for some groups. The Associated Press reported that new regulations starting in 2027 will limit tax credits for certain lawfully present immigrants, which could result in an additional 1 million uninsured people over time. CNN also reported a moratorium on new broker and agent participation in the exchanges, which could leave some shoppers with less help choosing a plan.
CMS said shoppers on HealthCare.gov will still have broad choice on average, with about 100 plans from five to six insurers available. That average hides wide local variation, and shoppers whose insurer is leaving may need to pick a new plan or be moved automatically to a different one, which may not cover the same doctors, hospitals or medicines.
What is confirmed is the enrollment window, the December 15 deadline for January coverage, the 13% average benchmark rise and the expiry of the enhanced credits. What is not yet known is how many people will sign up for 2027, how many will drop coverage because of higher prices, and whether Congress will act on subsidies before the window closes on January 15. Shoppers can compare plans on HealthCare.gov or their state exchange, and free help is available at 1-800-318-2596.
