> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.workersrights.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # ACA open enrollment starts Nov. 1. Benchmark premiums are up 42% in two years. - URL: https://www.workersrights.news/aca-open-enrollment-2027-premiums-up-42-percent-two-years/ - Published: 2026-10-31T15:31:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-31T15:31:52.000Z - Description: Benchmark plans rise 13% for 2027 after a 26% jump this year, Cigna quits 11 states, and no subsidy above 400% of poverty. - Author: WorkersRights.News Team - Tags: Economy, Politics Open enrollment for 2027 Affordable Care Act coverage begins Sunday, Nov. 1, in most states, and the people who buy their own health insurance are walking into a second straight year of double-digit price increases. The benchmark silver plan, the yardstick for federal subsidies, is rising 13% on average for 2027, according to an [Oct. 30 analysis by KFF](https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/9-things-to-watch-for-the-2027-aca-open-enrollment-period/?ref=workersrights.news), the nonpartisan health research group. That comes on top of a 26% jump for 2026\. KFF found benchmark premiums are up 42% on average between 2025 and 2027\. The hit lands on workers who don't get insurance through a job: the self-employed, gig and contract workers, many small-business employees, and people retiring before Medicare. ## Why the bill keeps climbing The main driver is Congress letting the enhanced premium tax credits expire at the end of 2025\. Those credits, first passed in 2021, capped what middle-income buyers paid and extended help to people earning more than four times the federal poverty level. With them gone, households above that line get no subsidy at all. For 2027 coverage, that cutoff is $63,840 for a single person, $86,560 for a couple and $109,280 for a family of three, [KFF Health News reported via CBS News](https://cbsnews.com/news/aca-open-enrollment-premiums-rules-brokers?ref=workersrights.news). Older buyers above the cutoff feel it most, since insurers can charge them up to three times what they charge younger adults, [AARP noted](https://www.aarp.org/health/healthcare/aca-open-enrollment-2027/?ref=workersrights.news). Most enrollees still qualify for a subsidy, but it is smaller than before. As healthier people drop coverage, the remaining pool gets sicker and pricier. "And that raises the premiums," Stacey Pogue, senior research fellow at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms, told AARP. The market is already shrinking. Individual-market enrollment fell 18% between January and June 2026, from 25.2 million to 20.5 million, and the Congressional Budget Office projects marketplace enrollment will drop to 13.1 million in 2027 from a 2025 peak of 22.4 million, KFF reported. ## Fewer insurers, higher caps As of Oct. 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](https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/tracking-insurer-participation-changes-in-the-aca-marketplaces-in-2027/?ref=workersrights.news). Cigna is leaving the individual market in all 11 states where it sells, both on and off the exchange. It reported more than 350,000 on-exchange enrollees in the first quarter. The most a plan can make you pay out of pocket in a year is also going up. The federal cap rises to $12,000 for an individual and $24,000 for a family in 2027, from $10,600 and $21,200, according to [CMS guidance](https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2027-papi-parameters-guidance-2026-01-29.pdf?ref=workersrights.news). That ceiling covers most job-based plans too, starting with plan years on or after Jan. 1, 2027, [Milliman noted](https://www.milliman.com/en/insight/2027-aca-oop-max-limits-released-group-health?ref=workersrights.news), so workers in employer open enrollment this fall should check whether their own plan's maximum went up. ## What the administration says In its [Oct. 30 fact sheet](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/plan-year-2027-marketplace-plans-prices-fact-sheet-0?ref=workersrights.news), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services claimed more than 75% of HealthCare.gov shoppers will have access to premiums at or below $50 a month in 2027\. That is half-true. The figure counts premiums after subsidies, and the fact sheet doesn't say what deductibles those plans carry. Low-premium plans are typically bronze plans, and the average bronze deductible in 2026 was about $7,500, according to KFF figures cited by AARP. People above the income cutoff get no subsidy and aren't helped by the claim. CMS also cancelled coverage in August for about 760,000 people it called "phantom" enrollees. KFF and KFF Health News report some of them have since regained coverage, which means the agency's count included at least some real people. New paperwork may slow sign-ups. On the federal marketplace, which serves 29 states, first-time applicants, people who moved states, people working with a new agent and people paying $30 or less a month may have to verify their identity through a third party such as Experian. Pogue warned that "some people may have trouble not because they're not real." A CMS freeze also bars agents not registered in 2026 from helping clients until at least February. We condemn letting working families' health costs climb 42% in two years while Congress declines to restore the help that kept coverage affordable. ## What to do now Don't let your plan auto-renew without looking. Log in at [HealthCare.gov](https://www.healthcare.gov/quick-guide/dates-and-deadlines/?ref=workersrights.news) or your state exchange, update your income, and compare total costs, including deductibles, not just the monthly premium. Pick a plan by Dec. 15 for coverage starting Jan. 1\. Open enrollment closes Jan. 15 in most states, and runs to Jan. 31 in California, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and D.C., according to [HealthInsurance.org](https://www.healthinsurance.org/open-enrollment/?ref=workersrights.news). California, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Virginia are offering state subsidies to make up some of the lost federal help. ### Sources - KFF, "[9 Things to Watch for the 2027 ACA Open Enrollment Period](https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/9-things-to-watch-for-the-2027-aca-open-enrollment-period/?ref=workersrights.news)," Oct. 30, 2026 - KFF, "[Tracking Insurer Participation Changes in the ACA Marketplaces in 2027](https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/tracking-insurer-participation-changes-in-the-aca-marketplaces-in-2027/?ref=workersrights.news)" - CMS, "[Plan Year 2027 Marketplace Plans and Prices Fact Sheet](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/plan-year-2027-marketplace-plans-prices-fact-sheet-0?ref=workersrights.news)," Oct. 30, 2026 - CMS, "[2027 Premium Adjustment Percentage and Cost-Sharing Parameters Guidance](https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2027-papi-parameters-guidance-2026-01-29.pdf?ref=workersrights.news)," Jan. 29, 2026 - CBS News / KFF Health News, "[ACA open enrollment: premiums, new rules and brokers](https://cbsnews.com/news/aca-open-enrollment-premiums-rules-brokers?ref=workersrights.news)," Oct. 23, 2026 - AARP, "[ACA Open Enrollment 2027](https://www.aarp.org/health/healthcare/aca-open-enrollment-2027/?ref=workersrights.news)," Oct. 26, 2026 - Milliman, "[2027 ACA OOP max limits released: group health](https://www.milliman.com/en/insight/2027-aca-oop-max-limits-released-group-health?ref=workersrights.news)" - HealthCare.gov, "[Dates and deadlines](https://www.healthcare.gov/quick-guide/dates-and-deadlines/?ref=workersrights.news)" - HealthInsurance.org, "[ACA Open Enrollment 2027 Guide](https://www.healthinsurance.org/open-enrollment/?ref=workersrights.news)"