WASHINGTON.- Open enrollment for 2027 health coverage opened on Sunday, November 1, 2026, with another sharp rise in prices for the millions of Americans who buy their own insurance — and with a hard deadline that matters more than ever: shoppers must pick a plan by December 15 for coverage starting January 1.
Premiums for the benchmark silver plan will rise 13 percent on average for 2027, according to a KFF analysis of federal plan data published on October 30. The benchmark plan is the second-lowest-cost silver plan in an area, and it is the plan used to set the size of federal help with premiums.
Two years, 42 percent
This is the second large rise in a row. Benchmark premiums rose 26 percent from 2025 to 2026, according to KFF, so the two years add up to about a 42 percent increase. The rise is 11 percent on average in states that use HealthCare.gov and 16 percent in states that run their own marketplaces.
It is also the second year without the enhanced premium tax credits that expired at the end of 2025. For 2027 coverage, the original Affordable Care Act rules apply again — including a hard subsidy cutoff: earn one dollar more than the limit for your household size, and the premium tax credit drops to zero, all of it. According to figures cited by KFF Health News, that cutoff for 2027 is $63,840 for a single person, $86,560 for a couple and $109,280 for a family of three.
Insurers point to rising medical care costs as the main reason for the increases, according to KFF. Changes in the risk pool — who signs up, and how much care they are expected to need — account for about 4 percentage points of the rise.
What shoppers face
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its own Plan Year 2027 fact sheet on October 30. It did not give an average premium change, but said more than 75 percent of HealthCare.gov shoppers will still have access to premiums at or below $50 a month after tax credits — a figure that counts premiums after subsidies and does not cover people above the subsidy cutoff, who pay full price.
The out-of-pocket maximum — the most a person pays in a year for covered services before the plan pays 100 percent — rises to $12,000 for an individual and $24,000 for a family in 2027, up from $10,600 and $21,200, according to CMS guidance.
State figures show how wide the range is. In North Carolina, approved increases for individual plans range from 8.35 percent to 27.36 percent for 2027, according to the state Department of Insurance. Michigan approved an average 14.2 percent increase for individual-market coverage. Paid marketplace enrollment fell to 19.2 million by February 2026, down 12 percent, according to KFF, and Cigna is leaving the individual market in all 11 states where it sells for 2027.
The dates that matter
On HealthCare.gov, open enrollment runs from November 1, 2026, to January 15, 2027. Enroll by December 15 for coverage starting January 1, 2027; enroll between December 16 and January 15 and coverage starts February 1. Some states that run their own marketplaces have different dates, with enrollment running to January 31 in California, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.
Sources: KFF analysis, October 30, 2026, via Zark News and Radio Purple, November 1, 2026; CMS Plan Year 2027 fact sheet, October 30, 2026; HealthCare.gov open enrollment dates.