Costs for health insurance plans sold on Healthcare.gov will rise by double digits next year, and Americans will have access to fewer insurers, according to government documents reviewed by The Washington Sun.
Average monthly premiums for the most popular types of plans will increase 11% in 2027. While prices are increasing, the jump is not as dramatic as last year, when costs shot up by 30% — a sign the federal health insurance marketplaces covering 19 million Americans are on more stable footing even as costs continue to rise.
“It’s not great news but it’s also not a collapse,” said Cynthia Cox, a senior vice president at nonpartisan health policy organization KFF, who tracks the Affordable Care Act closely.
The documents also showed a significant exodus of insurers from the marketplaces. In 2027, there will be 152 insurers on Healthcare.gov, down 14% from this year. Major insurer Cigna announced earlier this year it would withdraw from marketplaces in all the states. The average enrollee will still have access to plans from five or six insurers.
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is expected to release the figures ahead of the start of open enrollment on Nov. 1 and just before a midterm election where Democrats are hammering Republicans over the chronic problem of high health care costs.
The Trump administration has been striving to portray Healthcare.gov plans as affordable but last month announced it’s sending $500 checks to nearly 1 million marketplace customers who earn too much to qualify for premium subsidies.
The checks — which President Donald Trump called a “historic action” — will help defray but won’t entirely cover the premium increases for most consumers, depending on which plan they choose. According to the CMS documents, an average, midlevel “silver” plan will cost $73 more a month, or $876 more a year. Customers can also buy more expensive gold plans with more benefits or cheaper bronze plans with fewer benefits.
CMS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The figures only reflect the 29 states relying on Healthcare.gov rather than running their own marketplaces. The marketplaces were created by President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law for Americans who don’t have insurance through their employer, Medicare or Medicaid. Customers can buy individual health plans using federal subsidies pegged to their income.
For years, Democrats defended the health care law as Republicans vowed to repeal and replace it. But the script flipped last year after congressional Republicans refused to extend pandemic-era subsidies that were expiring.
Marketplace insurers had already indicated they planned a second year of double-digit rate hikes in filings with states earlier this year. The median premium increase across all 50 states and the District of Columbia will be 15%, according to a preliminary analysis by KFF.
Most marketplace customers are eligible for federal subsidies, which in many cases dramatically reduce their monthly premium costs, especially if they buy a bronze plan. Like last year, the subsidies will cover 88%, on average, of the premium for the lowest-cost plan, according to the CMS documents.
Marketplace enrollment declined by several million this year as premiums spiked to their highest levels since 2018. Insurers blamed the increases partly on the loss of the extra subsidies, along with growing drug and hospital costs and medical inflation.
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