Obamacare insurers ask for second-highest premiums increase in nearly a decade

Obamacare insurers ask for second-highest premiums increase in nearly a decade FILE PHOTO: Signs for former Obamacare health insurance plans lay next to a fence in Columbia, South Carolina, U. S. , January 28, 2023.

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo · Reuters By Amina Niasse Wed, July 8, 2026 at 4:09 PM GMT+2 2 min read By Amina Niasse NEW YORK, July 8 (Reuters) - Companies offering Obamacare health insurance plans next year are requesting payment rates representing a 14% median increase ‌to premiums over 2026 rates, according to data from health policy research ‌group KFF. The proposed rate for 2027 represents the second-highest increase since 2018, KFF said. Insurers must submit ​proposals to regulators by July 15, detailing expected costs and planned price changes ahead of the new year.

When insurance companies asked for a median rate hike of 18% last year, they pointed to an expected greater number of higher-risk, or sicker, patients enrolled ‌in the plans that would ⁠not be offset by less costly healthier enrollees. Insurers expect the pool of patients with greater medical needs to increase premiums by 4% ⁠next year as healthy members continue to drop coverage in 2027. Wider economic inflation, rising costs of medications and increased consolidation of medical providers are also driving the increase in ​premiums, ​KFF said.

Obamacare enrollment declined 13% in 2026, from ​22. 1 million people in 2025, ‌after the expiration of extra subsidies meant to help people keep coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Health and Human Services now estimates 19.

2 million Americans are enrolled in the plans created by President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. Without the subsidies, premiums rose 58% in 2026 and deductibles increased about $1,000 more per person, according to ‌KFF data. To compile the data to project 2027 ​rate increases, KFF analyzed filings by 77 insurers in ​16 states and Washington, D.

C. Between 2025 ​and 2027, premiums are on track to increase by more than ‌33%, based on the latest proposed ​rate. Most marketplace enrollees making ​less than 400% of the federal poverty level still qualify for subsidies.

Insurers including Centene and UnitedHealth have flagged elevated medical costs in their Obamacare businesses this ​year. CVS Health announced ‌last year that its Aetna insurance unit would not offer Obamacare plans ​in 2026 due to increased costs anticipated in that business.