Obamacare Premiums Jumped About 26 Percent as Enhanced Subsidies Expired

The sticker shock on Obamacare plans arrived alongside the subsidy cut it was tied to. Insurers had already priced in a 26 percent average increase, and the expiration of enhanced subsidies pushed what enrollees actually pay far higher.

What You Should Know

Premiums for 2026 Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage rose by an average of 26 percent, according to KFF data reported by the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC). States using the federal Healthcare.gov marketplace saw increases averaging 30 percent, while states running their own marketplaces averaged 17 percent, AJMC reported.

Those figures reflect what insurers charge for the benchmark plan, not what enrollees ultimately pay. The bigger driver of household cost was the expiration of the enhanced federal premium tax credits at the end of 2025.

The Money Trail

With those credits gone, enrollees who had been receiving them saw their monthly premium payments rise by an average of 114 percent, more than double, according to KFF’s analysis cited by AJMC. Households with incomes above four times the federal poverty level lost premium assistance entirely, while those below that line saw reduced help.

Enrollees could shift to a low-premium bronze plan to soften the blow, but AJMC reported those plans can carry deductibles exceeding $7,000, compared with deductibles as low as $100 on the reduced-cost silver plans many had held. Effectuated marketplace enrollment has already fallen from about 22.1 million in 2025 toward a projected 17.5 million, KFF found.

The Receipts

KFF attributes the underlying rate hikes to rising hospital costs, growing use of costly GLP-1 weight-management drugs, and the threat of tariffs on imported drugs and devices, according to AJMC. Insurers also priced in the expectation that healthier people would drop coverage once subsidies lapsed, which KFF says added roughly 4 percentage points on its own. Earlier analysis cited by AJMC estimated subsidy expiration could add about 4.2 million to the uninsured over a decade.

What Happens Next

Open enrollment for the following plan year runs from November 1 through mid-December, and AJMC reported enrollees who pick a plan early can still change their choice before the window closes if Congress revisits the subsidies. For now, the next financial event for millions of households is the renewal notice already landing in their mailboxes.

References: AJMC