Overview
- HealthCare.gov and several state exchanges posted 2026 plan prices on Wednesday, with KFF finding average benchmark premiums up 26% nationally, including about 30% in federal-exchange states and 17% on state-run markets.
- If enhanced premium tax credits expire at year’s end, subsidized enrollees’ out-of-pocket payments would rise about 114% on average, according to KFF, with CBPP projecting especially steep spikes for older people and high-cost states.
- CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz downplayed the impact by highlighting a $50 average bronze-plan payment, a figure experts say masks higher costs for typical silver plans and much larger deductibles if consumers downgrade coverage.
- States are locking in major hikes, including North Carolina’s nearly 30% average increase, while Covered California projects prices roughly doubling and warns as many as 400,000 enrollees could drop coverage if extra subsidies lapse.
- Enrollment help is thinner after federal navigator funding was cut about 90%, and insurers say rising hospital and drug costs plus expected exits by healthier enrollees factored into higher rates as the shutdown leaves the subsidy fight unresolved.