ACA Open Enrollment for 2027 Opens Nov. 1: What Florida, the Nation's Largest Marketplace, Faces

Open enrollment for 2027 Affordable Care Act coverage begins Sunday, Nov. 1, and Florida, home to more marketplace customers than any other state, heads into it with higher sticker prices, fewer insurers and no restoration of the enhanced federal subsidies that expired at the end of 2025. Floridians shopping on HealthCare.gov have until Dec. 15 to pick a plan that starts Jan. 1, and until Jan. 15, 2027, to enroll at all.

It is the second enrollment season without the expanded premium tax credits that Congress created in 2021 and extended in 2022. Their expiration drove up what millions of Floridians paid this year and pushed hundreds of thousands out of the marketplace. For 2027, insurers have filed for another round of double-digit average increases, and several familiar carriers are leaving the state's individual market.

Key dates for 2027 coverage

Florida uses the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov, so these deadlines apply statewide.

The Jan. 15 end date survived a fight over a federal rule. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had moved to shorten the window starting with 2027 coverage, but a federal judge in Maryland vacated that change in June 2026, and CMS confirmed in July that enrollment on the federal exchange will run from Nov. 1, 2026, through Jan. 15, 2027, according to reporting on the agency's statement. The administration has appealed, but any change would affect future seasons at the earliest.

Subsidies are not coming back

The enhanced premium tax credits expired Dec. 31, 2025, and no extension has become law. The U.S. House passed a three-year extension on Jan. 8, 2026, by a vote of 230 to 196 after a discharge petition forced it to the floor, with 17 Republicans joining Democrats, according to the American Hospital Association and other accounts of the vote. The Senate did not take up the House bill, and a December 2025 Senate vote on a longer extension failed to reach the 60 votes needed.

That leaves the original ACA subsidy rules in place for 2027. The most important change for many Florida households is the return of the so-called subsidy cliff: people with incomes above 400% of the federal poverty level get no premium tax credit at all, no matter how expensive their plan is. Under the enhanced credits, no one paid more than 8.5% of income for a benchmark silver plan.

For those who still qualify, the share of income expected toward the benchmark silver plan rises slightly in 2027, to between 2.15% and 10.22% depending on income, up from 2.1% to 9.96% in 2026, Forbes reported. Health policy research group KFF estimated that marketplace enrollees faced an average 114% increase in their premium payments after the enhanced credits lapsed, with the cliff hitting older middle-income enrollees hardest because their premiums are highest.

What happened to Florida's enrollment

Florida has led the nation in marketplace enrollment for years. During the 2026 open enrollment period, Floridians made about 4.5 million plan selections on HealthCare.gov, the most of any state, ahead of Texas, according to CMS and KFF data. That was down from about 4.7 million for 2025.

Many of those who signed up did not stay. By February 2026, effectuated enrollment, which counts people who actually paid their premiums, had fallen by 442,785 to 3,849,587, according to an Associated Press analysis of CMS data. Axios Tampa Bay reported in July that Florida had the nation's largest drop in enrollees after the subsidies expired, with more than 440,000 people leaving the marketplace. Even so, Florida still has the most marketplace enrollees of any state, at nearly 4 million.

Proposed 2027 rates

Twelve insurers filed proposed 2027 rate changes for Florida's individual market, with requests ranging from about 3.9% for Centene Venture Company Florida to about 39.1% for AmeriHealth Caritas Florida, according to analyses of the filings. A simple, unweighted average of those requests is about 15.3%, ACASignups.net calculated; it noted that Florida's trade secret rules redact enrollment data, so the average cannot be weighted by how many people each insurer covers.

One consumer guide, citing a state rate table, reports a lower enrollment-weighted average increase of 10.4%, with the average monthly premium before subsidies rising from $811 to $898. That figure could not be independently confirmed against a published Florida Office of Insurance Regulation release. The office typically finalizes individual-market rates in the fall, and final prices will appear on HealthCare.gov when shopping opens Nov. 1. For comparison, the office's approved average for 2026 was 34.1%, according to reports citing the regulator.

Pre-subsidy price increases matter most to people who earn too much to qualify for help. Subsidized enrollees are partly shielded, because their tax credit is tied to the cost of the benchmark silver plan in their area and grows when that plan's price rises.

Insurers leaving the Florida market

Cigna is exiting the individual health insurance market in all 11 states where it sells, including Florida, and will not offer individual and family plans anywhere for 2027, affecting roughly 369,000 members nationally, according to insurance industry coverage of the decision.

Centene is discontinuing its Sunshine State Health Plan marketplace coverage in Florida. Members who do not choose a replacement are expected to be moved to a plan under Ambetter, another Centene brand. Reports conflict on Molina Healthcare of Florida: some list it as leaving, and at least one analysis found it was not among the insurers that filed 2027 marketplace rates in Florida. Molina has said nationally that it is shrinking its individual-market footprint.

Enrollees whose insurer is leaving should receive a discontinuation notice. If they do nothing, HealthCare.gov may automatically match them to a similar plan from another carrier, which may not include the same doctors or drugs. Comparing networks and drug lists before Dec. 15 avoids a gap or surprise in Jan. 1 coverage.

Higher out-of-pocket limits

The cap on what a marketplace or other ACA-compliant plan can require a person to pay out of pocket for covered in-network care rises to $12,000 for an individual and $24,000 for a family in 2027, according to CMS, up from $10,600 and $21,200 in 2026, an increase of about 13%. Deductibles, copays and coinsurance all count toward that limit; premiums do not.

What Floridians should do

• Log in to HealthCare.gov after Nov. 1 and update income and household information, since subsidy eligibility depends on projected 2027 income.
• Do not rely on automatic renewal, especially if your current insurer is Cigna, Sunshine State Health Plan or another carrier leaving the market.
• Compare total yearly cost, including deductibles and the new out-of-pocket maximum, not just the monthly premium.
• Households just above 400% of the poverty level should check whether reducing taxable income, for example through retirement or health savings account contributions, could restore eligibility for a tax credit.
• Free help is available from federally funded navigators and licensed brokers.

What's next

Final 2027 premiums for every Florida county will be visible when HealthCare.gov opens for shopping on Nov. 1. CMS typically releases early enrollment snapshots during the season, which will show how many Floridians return to the marketplace in a second year without the enhanced subsidies. Congress has taken no action to revive them, so for now the deadlines to watch are Dec. 15 for Jan. 1 coverage and Jan. 15 for the season's close.