If you buy your own health insurance, here is the number to know before Nov. 1: the average Obamacare enrollee paid $178 a month after subsidies when they signed up for 2026, up from $113 the year before. That is $65 more every month, about $780 a year, for the same kind of coverage.
Why it jumped. The bigger federal tax credits that Congress passed during the pandemic expired at the end of 2025. Since January, only people earning between 100% and 400% of the poverty line, and without other coverage, can get help at all. People who still get a subsidy saw their average bill go from $74 to $96 a month.
What comes next. Insurers have asked for a median 15% premium increase for 2027, across 276 insurers in every state. Those are proposed rates, not final ones, and the insurers themselves name the lost tax credits as a driver: healthier people dropped coverage, leaving a sicker, costlier pool.
The dates. The federal government wanted a shorter window. Its 2025 rule cut sign-up on HealthCare.gov to Nov. 1 through Dec. 15. A federal court threw out that change, and CMS has said 2027 enrollment on HealthCare.gov runs Nov. 1, 2026 through Jan. 15, 2027. Sign up by Dec. 15 if you want coverage on Jan. 1. States that run their own exchanges set their own dates, so check yours.
One more cost. The fee the government takes from every plan on the federal exchange for 2027 is 1.9% of the monthly premium, set in CMS’s 2027 payment rule. You do not see it as a line item. It is in the price.
What to do: log in after Nov. 1, compare at least three plans, and do not let your old plan auto-renew without looking. The subsidy math changed. Your bill did too.