ACA Open Enrollment 2027: What It Costs and How to Pay Less

These four steps decide what you pay for all of 2027.

1. Read the two letters that should arrive by November 1. If you have Marketplace coverage now, one comes from your insurance company and one from the Marketplace. Together they tell you whether your plan is still offered, which plan you'll be moved into if you do nothing, and whether the Marketplace needs documents from you.
2. Update your 2027 income and household on your application. Your tax credit is based on what you expect to earn in 2027, not last year. If you don't act by December 15, HealthCare.gov may re-enroll you automatically, and your savings won't reflect changes you haven't reported.
3. Compare plans on total cost, not just the monthly premium. Look at the deductible and the out-of-pocket maximum, and confirm your doctors and prescriptions are covered.
4. Pay your first premium if you're new or switching plans. Picking a plan isn't enough. Coverage starts only after you pay the first month's bill.

A 2025 federal rule would have ended open enrollment by December 31, starting with 2027 coverage. On June 12, 2026, a federal court in Maryland struck that change, and CMS has confirmed the longer schedule for HealthCare.gov. The federal government has appealed the ruling, so check HealthCare.gov's dates page before you count on the January deadline.

• November 1, 2026: Open enrollment starts.
• December 15, 2026: Last day to enroll or switch plans for coverage that starts January 1.
• January 15, 2027: Open enrollment ends. Plans chosen from December 16 through January 15 start February 1.

If your state runs its own marketplace, it can keep enrollment open past January 15, so check its site. Oregon residents will enroll for 2027 coverage at ExploreHealthOR.gov instead of HealthCare.gov.

Don't plan on signing up in the spring. The special enrollment period that let people earning up to 150% of the poverty line sign up in any month is gone for 2027. Under the July 2025 federal budget law (Public Law 119-21), a plan picked through an income-only special enrollment period doesn't qualify for the tax credit anyway.

After January 15, you'll generally need a life event, like losing other coverage, moving, getting married or having a baby, to enroll.

From 2021 through 2025, Congress set what people paid for a benchmark plan at 0% of income below 150% of the poverty line, capped it at 8.5% for everyone else, and dropped the upper income limit. Those rules expired after 2025.

For 2027, the IRS table runs from 2.15% of income at the bottom to 10.22% at the top, and the credit stops completely above 400% of the poverty line. At 200% of the poverty line, the expected share of income goes from 2% in 2025 to 6.78% in 2027.

Here's how the credit works. The Marketplace finds the second-lowest-cost silver plan where you live, called the benchmark. Your credit is that plan's premium minus the share of income the IRS expects you to pay, so a cheaper plan costs you less than your expected share and a pricier one costs you more.

For scale, HealthCare.gov enrollees who got a tax credit for 2026 paid an average of $73 a month after it, according to CMS's 2026 open enrollment data. Your own 2027 price shows up when you enter your income and shop.

Starting with 2026 coverage, there's no cap on how much extra advance credit you repay when you file taxes. If the Marketplace paid more toward your premiums than your final income allows, the whole difference comes out of your refund or gets added to what you owe.

If your final income lands above 400% of the poverty line, you repay every dollar of advance credit for that year. So build your estimate the way HealthCare.gov lays it out:

1. Start with the adjusted gross income on your most recent federal tax return (Form 1040, line 11).
2. Add any untaxed foreign income, nontaxable Social Security benefits and tax-exempt interest. Don't add Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
3. Adjust for what you expect in 2027: a raise, a new job, changed hours, self-employment income, or a dependent you'll gain or lose.
4. Include income for your spouse and for anyone you'll claim as a dependent who is required to file a tax return.

Count wages, net self-employment income, tips, unemployment, Social Security (taxable and not), Social Security Disability Insurance and most retirement account withdrawals. Don't count child support, gifts, SSI, veterans' disability payments, workers' compensation or loan money.

You can subtract a few expenses on the application: student loan interest, IRA contributions if you don't have a retirement plan through work, educator expenses, and HSA deposits in limited situations. If you're self-employed, subtract the same business expenses you'd deduct on Schedule C.

Near a cutoff like 400% of the poverty line, those subtractions can decide whether you get a credit at all.

If your income is hard to predict, report what you earn now and update your application as it changes. If the Marketplace asks you to prove your income, answer by the deadline in the notice. CMS has restored an automatic 60-day extension for income questions, and if the IRS has no tax data for your household, the Marketplace still has to accept the income you report.

One rule works in your favor for 2027: court orders bar the Marketplace from cutting off your credit because you didn't file taxes and reconcile past credits. The law still requires a federal return with Form 8962 for every year you get advance credit, and from 2026 on, any extra credit gets repaid in full when you file.

At those incomes you can get cost-sharing reductions, which lower your deductible, copays and out-of-pocket limit, but only on a silver plan. For 2027, a silver plan's out-of-pocket limit for one person can't exceed $4,000 if your income is between 100% and 200% of the poverty line, or $9,600 between 200% and 250%.

Compare that with the standard 2027 limit of $12,000 for one person and $24,000 for a family.

On average, bronze plans pay about 60% of covered costs and usually carry high deductibles, while gold plans pay about 80%. If you manage a chronic condition or expect a surgery or a birth, weigh the out-of-pocket limit, not just the premium.

Every bronze and catastrophic plan now works with a health savings account, which lets you set aside pre-tax money for deductibles and copays.

Your credit is pegged to the benchmark silver plan, so it doesn't shrink when you choose a cheaper plan, though it can't be more than that plan's premium. That's how some people end up paying very little, and it's why you should compare every plan level before you settle.

Catastrophic plans don't qualify for the tax credit. They're open to people under 30 and people with a hardship or affordability exemption. A 2025 CMS policy that widened the income-based hardship route is on hold for 2027 under a court order.

In the 40 states and Washington, D.C., that expanded Medicaid, adults generally qualify with household income below 138% of the poverty line. Under the 2026 guidelines, that's about $22,025 a year for one person or $45,540 for a family of four, and a few states use a different limit.

You can apply for Medicaid any time of year, not just during open enrollment.

Ten states haven't expanded: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Wisconsin's BadgerCare Plus still covers adults with income up to the poverty line, so it has no gap. In the other nine, if your income is below the poverty line and you don't qualify for Medicaid another way, you can't get Medicaid or a Marketplace tax credit. Once your income reaches 100% of the poverty line, $15,960 for one person, you can qualify for the credit.

Apply through the Marketplace anyway. States weigh pregnancy, disability, age and caring for children, and a more detailed income picture can put you in the range for savings. If nothing fits, community health centers charge on a sliding scale based on income.

States must generally start by January 1, 2027. Non-pregnant adults ages 19 to 64 covered through expansion will have to show 80 hours a month of work, community service, a work program or half-time school, or monthly income of at least 80 times the federal minimum wage, which comes to $580 a month in 2026. Some new applicants will need to show at least one month of this before they apply.

Many people are exempt, including people who are pregnant or postpartum, parents and caregivers of a child 13 or younger or of a person with a disability, people who are medically frail, veterans with a total disability rating, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and former foster youth. If your state can't confirm you meet the rule, it has to give you 30 days to respond.

Losing Medicaid under this rule also blocks you from a Marketplace tax credit. Most adults in this group will renew every six months instead of once a year starting in 2027. Our Medicaid renewal guide and the state-by-state Medicaid pages list your agency's phone number and portal.

Starting with 2027 coverage, the 2025 budget law limits the tax credit to U.S. citizens and nationals, green card holders, Cuban and Haitian entrants, and citizens of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia or Palau who live here under the Compacts of Free Association. The same limit applies to the extra savings on silver plans.

If you're here as a refugee or asylee, or with Temporary Protected Status, and don't have a green card, you can still buy a Marketplace plan for 2027, but without the credit. Immigration rules for coverage changed more than once in the past year, so have a certified assister check your status before you pick a plan.

Navigators and other certified assisters help you apply and enroll at no cost, and they're required to give fair, impartial information. Agents and brokers can enroll you too, but they're generally paid by the insurance companies whose plans they sell, and some don't offer every company's plans.

On August 26, 2026, CMS awarded $10 million to 35 Navigator organizations for 2027 coverage, working across 28 states. CMS cut Navigator funding to that level starting with 2026 coverage, down from $98 million for 2024, so book help early. States that run their own marketplaces fund their own programs.

To find someone near you, search localhelp.healthcare.gov or call the Marketplace Call Center at 1-800-318-2596, which is free and open 24 hours a day.

Short-term health insurance doesn't have to follow the federal consumer protections that apply to comprehensive coverage. It can exclude pre-existing conditions and cap what it pays each year or over your lifetime. Marketplace plans can't turn you away or charge you more for a condition you already have.

A 2024 federal rule limits short-term plans to three months, or four with renewals. In August 2025, federal agencies said they won't prioritize enforcing that limit until new rulemaking is done, so depending on your state, you may see longer policies for sale.

Fixed indemnity plans pay a set cash amount, like a flat sum per day in the hospital, no matter what your care costs, and CMS says they aren't a substitute for comprehensive coverage. The tax credit only applies to a plan you enroll in through the Marketplace.