Overview
- Open enrollment for most ACA marketplaces began on Nov. 1, 2026, and runs through Jan. 15, 2027, with many consumers facing new plan costs and verification procedures.
- KFF’s analysis of CMS data shows average benchmark premiums will rise about 13 percent for 2027 after a roughly 26 percent jump in 2026 driven by the end of enhanced pandemic-era tax credits.
- Experts cite rising hospital and prescription costs, concentrated provider markets, and new treatment pressures such as GLP-1 drugs as central drivers of the premium increases.
- Marketplace enrollment has fallen by millions to about 19.2 million active enrollees as of February and insurers have announced dozens of state-level exits, reducing plan choices for shoppers.
- Federal policy changes and enforcement actions, including new limits on tax credits for some lawfully present immigrants and the removal of hundreds of thousands of enrollees for suspected fraud, are likely to reduce enrollment further and push consumers toward short-term plans or sharing arrangements that carry major coverage risks.