1. The new calendar, and what it replaced
In June 2025, CMS finalized the Marketplace Integrity and Affordability rule. Among many changes, it shortened open enrollment on the federally-facilitated exchanges to November 1 through December 15, beginning with the 2027 plan year. State-run marketplaces may set their own dates, but they must start by November 1, finish by December 31, and run no longer than nine weeks. Florida has no state exchange — it uses HealthCare.gov — so the federal window is the one that applies here.1
| What you were used to | For 2027 coverage | |
|---|---|---|
| Opens | November 1 | November 1 |
| Closes | January 15 | December 15, 2026 |
| Length | About 11 weeks | About 6 weeks |
| Coverage starts | January 1 or February 1, depending on when you enrolled | January 1, 2027 |
That is the whole change in one line: the month you used to have in January is gone. In past years, someone who missed the December deadline could still enroll in early January and start coverage on February 1. For 2027 there is no such fallback on the federal marketplace.
Mark the date now, not in December
Every year a share of South Florida households enroll in the first two weeks of January, because that is when the reminder finally lands. Those people will find the door closed in 2027. If you buy your own coverage, put December 15 in your phone today — and treat the first week of December as your real deadline, so a document request or a website problem does not cost you the year.
2. Why December 15 is a wall, not a suggestion
A shorter window would be a minor inconvenience on its own. What makes it consequential is what happens to somebody who misses it.
If December 15 passes without you enrolling, your options narrow to one: a special enrollment period, and only if a qualifying life event opens one. Those events are specific — they are not a general second chance.
- Losing other coverage — a job ends, COBRA runs out, you age off a parent’s plan, or you lose Medicaid eligibility.
- A household change — marriage, divorce, a birth or adoption, or a death in the household.
- Moving — a permanent move to a new area with different plan options.
- Certain other situations — gaining lawful presence, being released from incarceration, or an enrollment error made by the marketplace itself.
Simply changing your mind in February is not a qualifying event. Neither is realising in March that you needed coverage after all.
3. What Florida has at stake
Nowhere in the country has more riding on this than Florida. Florida has more marketplace enrollees than any other state — about 4.54 million people, close to one in five of everyone on marketplace coverage nationally.2
Plan year 2026 enrollment. National enrollment was about 23.1 million, down roughly 5% from 2025.2
Enrollment is already falling. Florida lost roughly 197,000 enrollees between 2025 and 2026, and national enrollment dropped about 5% to 23.1 million. A shorter window in a state this dependent on the marketplace is not a small administrative change — it is the kind of thing that shows up in uninsured rates.2
It matters locally in a specific way, too. Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach have a large share of self-employed people, gig and hospitality workers, small-business owners and families with mixed immigration status — exactly the households whose income is hardest to predict a year in advance. That prediction is the part that just got riskier, for reasons in section five.
4. What you will actually pay in 2027
Rates are set insurer by insurer and county by county, so no article can tell you your premium. But the direction is clear. Across the insurers that filed 2027 rates, proposed changes ranged from about −1% to 54%, and roughly 63% of them landed between 10% and 25%.3
Sitting underneath that is the change that has already hit: the enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025. Those were the temporary subsidies that capped what you paid as a share of income and removed the hard cut-off at 400% of the federal poverty level. Without them, the cliff is back — earn one dollar over the line and the premium tax credit goes to zero, not down gradually.
The cliff is a planning problem, not a bad-luck problem
Because eligibility is based on projected annual income, the difference between qualifying and not qualifying is often decisions you control: a retirement-account contribution, how you time an invoice, whether a spouse takes extra hours in December. We wrote about the mechanics in our guide to the 2026 subsidy cliff. The point for this year is that these decisions have to be made before you enroll, and enrollment now ends in mid-December.
One practical note: do not shop on premium alone. If your income is under 250% of the federal poverty level, cost-sharing reductions cut your deductible and copays substantially — but only on silver plans. A cheaper bronze premium can quietly cost you far more across a year in which you actually use the coverage.
5. The tax change nobody is talking about
This is the change that will surprise people, and it does not surface until they file. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025, the caps on repaying excess advance premium tax credits are eliminated. If your actual income comes in higher than the estimate you gave the marketplace, you repay the entire difference.4
| Before | For 2026 income, filed in 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| If you underestimated your income | Repayment was capped on a sliding scale by income and filing status | You repay the full excess, with no cap |
| Practical effect | A large overpayment could be partly absorbed by the cap | The whole overpayment lands on your return |
The arithmetic is unforgiving. A household that received far more advance credit than it turned out to qualify for now owes all of it back — where the old caps might have limited the damage to a few thousand dollars. For a self-employed household in Broward whose year turned out better than expected, that can be the difference between a refund and a four-figure bill.
This is where health coverage becomes a tax question
Your income estimate is not a form field to fill in quickly. It is a number that determines both what you pay monthly and what you owe in April. If your income varies — commissions, 1099 work, seasonal hours, a business that had a good year — the estimate deserves the same care as a tax return, because that is where it ends up. Reporting income changes to the marketplace during the year, rather than discovering them at filing, is the single best protection.
If you already know 2026 went better than you projected, do not wait until April to find out what that means. It is fixable while the year is still open, and largely not fixable afterwards.
One conversation covers both sides of this
We handle the coverage and the tax return — so the income estimate is right the first time.
6. Auto-renewal still works — and why you should not rely on it
For the 2027 plan year, automatic re-enrollment still operates on HealthCare.gov. It is worth being precise about this, because several write-ups have said otherwise: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ends automatic re-enrollment beginning with plan year 2028, not 2027, along with a requirement to actively verify income and other eligibility information each year.5
So this is the last cycle where doing nothing still produces a plan. That is not the same as producing the right plan. Auto-renewal carries forward the income figure already on file, into a year when premiums moved and the enhanced subsidies are gone. People are routinely renewed into a plan whose network, formulary or deductible changed underneath them, at a subsidy calculated from stale information.
Treat 2027 as a practice run for 2028
From plan year 2028, everyone will have to actively re-enroll and verify their information before the window closes. Getting into the habit this year — logging in, updating income, comparing plans, confirming your doctors — means the year the rule bites, it is already routine rather than a scramble in a six-week window.
7. What to do before November 1
The window opens November 1. Almost everything that makes enrollment go smoothly can be done before then.
- Estimate your 2027 household income carefully. Count every source: wages, self-employment, spouse income, unemployment, taxable interest. If it varies, estimate honestly rather than optimistically — the repayment caps that used to soften a low guess are gone.
- Check the poverty-level thresholds for your household size. Whether you are above or below 400% decides whether you receive any premium tax credit at all. Where you sit relative to 250% decides whether silver-plan cost-sharing reductions are available to you.
- List your doctors and your prescriptions. Networks and drug formularies change every year, including on a plan you are auto-renewed into. Confirm each doctor with their office rather than trusting the directory.
- Have your documents ready. Proof of income, immigration status where it applies, and your household’s Social Security numbers. Verification requests are the most common reason an enrollment stalls — and in a six-week window, a stall is expensive.
- Log in to your HealthCare.gov account now, not in December. Recovering a lost password or updating a phone number in November is routine. Doing it on December 14 is not.
- If your 2026 income ran higher than you projected, say so. Report it to the marketplace now. It reduces what you owe at filing.
And if your household might qualify for Medicaid or Florida KidCare instead, that is a separate door with no deadline attached — our guide to the Florida coverage gap explains which door is open to whom.
8. Free help, and what to watch out for
You should not have to pay anyone to enroll you in marketplace coverage.
- HealthCare.gov and 1-800-318-2596 (TTY 1-855-889-4325) operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in many languages.
- Navigators and certified application counsellors are federally funded, free, and do not sell insurance. HealthCare.gov’s “Find Local Help” tool lists the ones near you in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach.
- A licensed agent or broker — like us — is paid by the insurance company, not by you. That is legitimate, and it is also a reason to ask any agent which carriers they are appointed with.
Signs to walk away from
Nobody legitimate asks for payment to enrol you in a marketplace plan. Be wary of anyone who guarantees a $0 premium before seeing your income, quotes a subsidy without asking your household size, offers a “limited time” deal unrelated to the real December 15 deadline, or wants your Social Security number before you have chosen anything. And no agent represents every plan in your county — including us. Compare against HealthCare.gov itself.
We are an independent brokerage, and we also prepare taxes — which is the reason we keep pointing at the income estimate. Most people meet the marketplace and the IRS as two separate problems, in two separate seasons. They are the same number.
9. Frequently asked questions
When does ACA open enrollment start and end for 2027 coverage?
On HealthCare.gov, which is the marketplace Florida uses, open enrollment for 2027 runs from November 1 to December 15, 2026. That is the entire window. Coverage selected during it starts January 1, 2027.
What happened to the January 15 deadline?
It no longer applies to the federal marketplace. The CMS Marketplace Integrity and Affordability final rule shortened open enrollment on federally-facilitated exchanges to November 1 through December 15, starting with the 2027 plan year. State-run marketplaces set their own dates but must finish by December 31 and cannot run longer than nine weeks. Florida uses the federal marketplace, so December 15 is the date that matters here.
What if I miss December 15?
You would generally have to wait a full year, unless you qualify for a special enrollment period through a life event such as losing other coverage, moving, marriage, a birth, or certain income changes. Going without coverage means paying the full cost of any care you need during the year.
Will my plan renew automatically for 2027?
For the 2027 plan year, automatic re-enrollment still operates on HealthCare.gov. But being auto-renewed is not the same as being correctly enrolled: your plan may have changed, your subsidy is recalculated on old income information, and the plan you land in may no longer be the right one. Separately, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ends automatic re-enrollment beginning with plan year 2028, so this is the last stretch where it applies.
Are premiums going up for 2027?
For most people, yes. Across the insurers filing 2027 rates, proposed changes ranged from about −1% to 54%, and roughly 63% of them fell between 10% and 25%. Your own change depends on your insurer, your plan, your county and your age, so the filed averages are a signal, not a quote.
What changed about repaying subsidies at tax time?
The caps are gone. Before, if your income ended up higher than you estimated, the amount of excess advance premium tax credit you had to repay was limited on a sliding scale. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025, you repay the full excess amount regardless of income. That makes an accurate income estimate far more important than it used to be.
I earn a little over four times the poverty level. Do I get any help?
Not through the premium tax credit. The enhanced subsidies that temporarily removed the 400% federal poverty level limit expired at the end of 2025, so the cliff is back: a dollar over the line means no premium tax credit at all. Because the line is based on projected annual income, planning matters — that is worth a conversation before you enroll, not after.
Does this affect Medicaid or Florida KidCare?
No. Medicaid and Florida KidCare accept applications year-round and are not tied to the marketplace open enrollment window. If your income is low enough that you may qualify, or if your children might, you can apply at any time.
10. Sources
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — 2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Final Rule, finalized June 20, 2025. Shortens open enrollment on federally-facilitated exchanges to November 1 – December 15 beginning with plan year 2027; state exchanges must begin by November 1, end by December 31, and run no more than nine weeks.
- Plan year 2026 marketplace enrollment: national total of about 23.1 million, down roughly 5% from 2025; Florida the largest state at about 4.54 million, down roughly 197,000 year over year. Reported from CMS enrollment data.
- Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker — How much and why ACA Marketplace premiums are going up in 2027. Across 276 filing insurers, proposed changes ranged from about −1% to 54%, with roughly 63% between 10% and 25%.
- One Big Beautiful Bill Act, §71305 — eliminates the caps on repayment of excess advance premium tax credits for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025. See also IRS premium tax credit guidance updated after enactment.
- One Big Beautiful Bill Act, §71303 — ends automatic re-enrollment and requires active annual verification of income and eligibility information, beginning with plan year 2028.
- HealthCare.gov — open enrollment, special enrollment periods and qualifying life events; “Find Local Help” directory of navigators and certified application counsellors. Marketplace call centre 1-800-318-2596 (TTY 1-855-889-4325).
Disclaimer: JCKC Financial Services is a licensed independent insurance brokerage and tax preparation firm. This article is for general educational purposes only and is not tax, legal, medical, or financial advice, nor a substitute for guidance from a licensed professional about your specific situation. We are not connected with or endorsed by the United States government, HealthCare.gov, or the Health Insurance Marketplace. Enrollment dates, subsidy rules, poverty-level thresholds and premiums change, and rate filings are not final until approved. Confirm current details at HealthCare.gov, by calling 1-800-318-2596 (TTY 1-855-889-4325), or with a licensed professional before making any decision about your coverage or your taxes.