Marketplace Insurance

Marketplace insurance for 2026. Lots of big changes on the horizon. And as always, every year everything seems to go up in price, right? Well, for marketplace insurance, the average annual premium increase that we’ve seen so far is about a 15% increase. But that’s not really the big news for 2026. The big news is, as of this recording, they’re doing away with those enhanced premium tax credits.

And that’s the big news, because that can really affect so many different people and make marketplace insurance a lot more expensive. So typically or what happened when this came about in the Obama years was that they used to have what was called a subsidy cliff, where, you know, marketplace insurance is all based on how much income you show annually.

And they use that to determine what your subsidy is to help bring down the cost of your health insurance. Well, by doing away with these enhanced premium tax credits, they have reverted back to the old ways where there’s what’s called a subsidy cliff. And so if your income is above this subsidy cliff, you fall off the cliff and you get absolutely no subsidy whatsoever, and you pay full price for these marketplace insurance plans that can get very, very expensive.

Now, in a few years past, we’ve had, the American Rescue Act, which gave almost all people, you know, some sort of subsidy. So we found that this marketplace insurance had been very popular. Well, now, for 2026, you really need to make sure you pay attention to where your income falls, because if you show $1 over that threshold, you get no subsidy and your premiums are going to be skyrocketing.

So for 2026, if you’re on marketplace insurance, pay close attention to your annual income this year.