Obamacare enrollees get first look at 2026 prices as premiums soar

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

Updated Oct 29, 2025, 7:46 AM ET
PUBLISHED Oct 28, 2025, 11:10 PM ET


Premiums for Affordable Care Act coverage will skyrocket 26%, on average, next year, according to a KFF analysis released Tuesday evening, just days before open enrollment starts on November 1.

The price hike is one of the largest jumps since Obamacare plans debuted more than a decade ago — and it doesn’t factor in the expiration of the enhanced premium subsidies.

Consumers in the 30 states that use the federal exchange, healthcare.gov, can now get a preview of what they’ll pay for 2026 coverage. The site opened for so-called window shopping on Tuesday.

The monthly premium for the benchmark plan on healthcare.gov will soar 30%, on average, according to the KFF analysis, which is based on data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In states that run their own exchanges, the benchmark plan premium will rise by an average of 17%.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/28/politics/obamacare-premiums-increase-2026-coverage

[travelingthrulife]

1. Gotta keep those insurance execs fat and happy!

[FirstLight]

12. obviously Luigi didn't scare them enough...

oh, sorry...was I saying that out loud?

[NCDem47]

2. I use Healthacre.gov for insurance

Take no subsidies or credits. Retired, but not 65. Keeping same plan from 2025 to 2026 with no changes equals a 44% increase or an additional $419 a month in whole dollars--another $5,000 a year.

[Karma13612]

11. 39% for me

I have a Medicare advantage plan. Thru the end of this year, there has been no premium on top of the $185 I pay monthly for having Medicare.
Starting next year, If I want the same level of coverage (pertaining to copays, etc) , it will cost me $50 per month on top of the new higher Medicare premium. Can’t recall, but it is increasing to over $200 per month.

If I factor in all these changes it’s 39% for me.
Or, I can just go with a no-premium plan from the same company (Aetna) (still have to pay the Medicare Premium) which will be a downgrade to what I have now. It means I have copays on more services and we lose a bit on dental as well.

Medicare is very good. I wish this country would wake up and offer Medicare for all. Get rid of the barbaric insurance company profit-based patchwork plans we have now. They are disgraceful.

[Playingmantis]

3. Maybe this will FINALLY wake them up...maybe

[Bengus81]

4. Trump told everyone in 2024 he was going to be a dictator

Didn't do shit but get him more votes and millions of other voters stayed home. Hell,those brain dead cult members will blame Biden or even Obama.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

13. "I don't care about you, I just want your vote."

“I am your retribution.”

“In four years you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good.”

Too many people were clapping and cheering over these remarks and not taking the time to consider what he REALLY meant.

[republianmushroom]

5. Thank your republican politician.

But president trump's pimp, mikey, said they are working on a plan.

[BigmanPigman]

6. Mine is $194 a month now, it will increase to $1,200 in 2026

That is 33% of my income after taxes. I've been bitching about it since July.

[SunSeeker]

7. My Blue Shield premium went up 14% for next year and I'm not even on Obamacare. nt

[MayReasonRule]

8. $24,000 Premium Cost For Myself And My Honey Beginning Jan 1st

We're more likely to set that $24,000 aside in an account.

Fuck these Nazi extortionists.

Fuck the greedy 'healthcare' monoliths as well.

Evil fucking incarnate.

May their punishment fit their crimes against humanity.

[Bayard]

9. Dems really need to up the message everywhere---

THIS is why we are fighting for you. THIS is why the government is shut down.

[progree]

10. Key words: "and it doesn't factor in the expiration of the enhanced premium subsidies."

(from the OP excerpt).

More from the article:

But that’s not all the bad news: The actual amount enrollees pay in 2026 will be far, far higher because the enhanced premium subsidies will disappear. Their monthly payments are expected to more than double, according to a separate analysis from KFF, a health policy research group.

. . . Several states that run their own Obamacare exchanges have announced that premiums will at least double next year if the enhanced subsidies lapse.

. . . If the subsidies expire, consumers are expected to flee the exchanges. About 4 million more people would be uninsured in 2034, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis — and that’s on top of the roughly 10 million more people who will lack coverage due to the One Big Beautiful Bill’s Medicaid and Affordable Care Act provisions.