Health Insurance Open Enrollment Opens in Florida: Higher Premiums, Fewer Choices, and a January 15 Deadline

Open enrollment for 2027 Affordable Care Act coverage opened Sunday, Nov. 1, and runs through Jan. 15, 2027, on HealthCare.gov, the federal marketplace Florida uses. Shoppers who pick a plan by Dec. 15 will have coverage starting Jan. 1. The Associated Press advises people signing up this year to expect higher premiums and fewer options.

Florida feels the changes more than most states because it has more marketplace enrollees than any other. The enhanced premium tax credits that lowered costs from 2021 through 2025 expired at the end of 2025 and had not been renewed as of October, and the effect showed in this year's sign-ups: Floridians who enrolled for 2026 agreed to pay an average of $106 a month after tax credits, up from about $67 the year before.

For 2027, one tally of proposed Florida individual-market rates puts the average increase at 15.3 percent, with Cigna, Molina Healthcare of Florida and Sunshine State Health Plan leaving the individual market, and the ACA out-of-pocket maximum rising to $12,000 for an individual and $24,000 for a family. Because premiums, networks and drug lists change every year, the practical advice for Tallahassee-area shoppers is to update their application and compare plans before the Dec. 15 deadline for January coverage, rather than letting a plan renew on last year's numbers.