Obamacare Premiums Set to Jump by Double Digits for a Second Straight Year
Obamacare Premiums Set to Jump by Double Digits for a Second Straight Year.
Health insurance premiums for Affordable Care Act plans are likely to jump again in 2027, according to a new analysis by KFF, a health policy research organization.
Insurers in the ACA marketplace have proposed a median premium hike of 14% for next year, according to the KFF analysis , which looked at preliminary filings by insurers across 16 states and the District of Columbia. Of the 77 insurers that have submitted filings ahead of a July 15 deadline, 20 are seeking premium increases of more than 20%, KFF says.
"This is the second consecutive year of double-digit premium hikes," KFF's analysts write. They add that last year's median proposed rate change was 18%, and the median finalized rate change was 20%. The proposed 14% increase for 2027 would be the second-highest since 2018. "If these early indications of median premium increases for 2027 hold, typical premiums for insurers participating in the ACA Marketplaces will have jumped by more than one-third over a two-year period," the new report says.
(The new analysis was published by the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, a partnership of the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF. The Fiscal Times is an editorially independent publication separately funded by the Peterson family.)
The insurers' filings reportedly cite the rising cost of hospitalizations, doctor visits and prescription drugs as well as broader inflation and the expiration of enhanced ACA tax credits at the end of last year. Some insurers also cited regulatory changes as a factor driving premiums higher.
"The underlying cost of medical care and prescription drugs has risen by 10% for 2027—greater than the 8% average growth seen over the last few years," KFF said in a news release.
The expiration of the more generous ACA subsidies already led to a 58% increase in average out-of-pocket premium costs for this year and deductibles of about $1,000 more per person, according to KFF. The increased cost led many healthier enrollees to drop their ACA plans, leaving a smaller pool of somewhat sicker enrollees, who are more expensive to cover, in the marketplace. Enrollment in ACA plans fell to about 19 million people as of February 2026, down from a high above 22 million people in 2025.
Insurers estimate that the changing pool of enrollees drove premiums up by about 4 percentage points this year and will do so again for 2027, according to KFF. The higher premiums also drive up subsidy spending for lower-income enrollees.
The bottom line: Insurance rates for 2027 will be finalized later this summer, but the healthcare affordability squeeze looks likely to get significantly worse in 2027.
Sinergia Empresarial continuará el seguimiento de esta información sobre obamacare Premiums Set to Jump by Double Digits for a Second Straight Year y ampliará la cobertura conforme se confirmen nuevos elementos relevantes para el ecosistema empresarial.
