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The ACA MarketplaceS

Change in February effectuated enrollment, by state, 2025-2026

How Has ACA Marketplace Enrollment Changed Across States in 2026?

ACA Marketplace enrollment fell this year in every state except New Mexico, which was the only state to fully replace the enhanced premium tax credits that expired last year with a state-funded subsidy, according to a new KFF analysis of effectuated enrollment data. The Marketplace enrollment decline—the first in seven years—follows several years of rapid enrollment growth and coincides with the end of the enhanced federal subsidies.

How Much and Why ACA Marketplace Premiums Are Going Up in 2027

ACA Marketplaces insurers are proposing a median premium increase of 15% in 2027, according to KFF’s updated analysis of 276 insurers with publicly available filings across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This is the second consecutive year of double-digit premium hikes. Last year’s median nationwide proposed rate change was 18%, and the median finalized rate change was 20%. While this proposed rate change is lower than last year, it represents the second-highest requested rate change since 2018, as premium growth had been relatively flat in this market for several years.

About the ACA

Promotional image for KFF video How Affordable is the Affordable Care Act

Did the Affordable Care Act Make Health Care More Affordable?

The expiration of the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits at the start of 2026, combined with rising insurer premiums, put a spotlight on health care affordability that extends beyond Marketplace enrollees. KFF’s Cynthia Cox examines the ACA’s record and the broader underlying question it raises: what’s a fair price for Americans people to pay for health care?

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  • How Could the Build Back Better Act Affect Uninsured Children?

    Issue Brief

    This brief examines characteristics of uninsured children in 2020 and discusses how current policy proposals, including outreach efforts, continuous eligibility requirements, and closing the coverage gap, could affect children’s health coverage. Recent efforts to expand coverage for adults could benefit children’s coverage, especially for children in non-expansion states if the coverage gap is filled as proposed by the Build Back Better Act (BBBA).

  • What happens after the COBRA subsidies end in September?

    FAQs

    You can continue on COBRA unsubsidized until your 18 months of COBRA eligibility ends. In addition, you will have the option to enroll in marketplace coverage when the subsidy ends in September.  Loss of the COBRA subsidy will make you eligible for a special enrollment period (SEP) to sign up for marketplace coverage.  If you make your plan selection before the end of September, new marketplace coverage will take effect on October 1. 

  • Sources of Payment for Uncompensated Care for the Uninsured

    Issue Brief

    This brief estimates the level of public funding that was paid to help offset providers’ uncompensated care costs for the uninsured in 2017. To conduct the analysis, we rely on several secondary data sources including government budget appropriations and expenditure data for major public programs that provided funds to cover the cost of care for the uninsured, as well as analyses of secondary data sources completed by others.

  • Analysis Estimates 5.1 Million People Fall into the Affordable Care Act’s “Family Glitch”

    News Release

    A new KFF analysis estimates 5.1 million people nationally fall into the Affordable Care Act’s “family glitch” that occurs when a worker receives an offer of affordable employer coverage for themselves but not for their dependents, making them ineligible for financial assistance for marketplace coverage. The so-called glitch occurs because the ACA prohibits people with an offer of affordable employer coverage from purchasing subsidized coverage through the ACA marketplace. Under current rules, the affordability of…

  • Private Insurers Are Expected to Pay $2.1 Billion in Rebates to Consumers This Year for Excessive Health Insurance Premiums Relative to Health Care Expenses

    News Release

    Private insurance companies are expecting to pay out $2.1 billion in rebates to consumers this fall, the second highest amount ever issued under the Affordable Care Act, according to a new KFF analysis. The rebates, which are calculated based on the share of premium revenues that insurance companies paid out for health care expenses and quality improvement, are roughly $400 million lower than last year’s record high of $2.5 billion, but more than 50 percent…

  • Real Industry Action on Health Reform?

    Other Post

    The Washington Post published an op-ed authored by Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman which examines how the health industry's voluntary commitment to curb health care spending is similar and different from past efforts. Read the Article

  • Testimony Related to Health Reform

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Kaiser Family Foundation is frequently invited to provide expert testimony before Congress on key health care issues. Testimony At NAIC Exchanges Subgroup Public HearingKaiser Family Foundation Vice President Gary Claxton, who directs the Foundation's Marketplace Policy Project, testified July 22, 2010, before the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Exchanges (B) Subgroup established by the health reform law. Private Long-Term Care Insurance and the Challenge of Closing the Long-Term Care Funding GapAt a June 3…