Florida ACA Open Enrollment Opens Sunday: Shoppers Face Higher Premiums After the Enhanced Subsidies Expired

Open enrollment for 2027 health coverage opened Sunday, Nov. 1, two days before Election Day, and nowhere does it weigh more heavily than Florida. The state has more Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollees than any other — over 4 million Floridians selected or were automatically re-enrolled in plans for 2026 — and it was hit especially hard when the enhanced federal premium subsidies expired on Dec. 31, 2025 without being renewed, according to an analysis of the Florida market published this weekend.

The numbers shoppers will see reflect that change. Floridians who enrolled for 2026 signed up to pay average premiums of $106 a month after tax credits, compared with about $67 a month the year before, and Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation reported an average full-price premium increase of 31.5% for 2026. Proposed 2027 individual-market rates average a further 15.3% increase, three insurers — Cigna, Molina Healthcare of Florida and Sunshine State Health Plan — are leaving the individual market, and the out-of-pocket maximum rises to $12,000 for an individual and $24,000 for a family in 2027.

The calendar matters as much as the prices: shoppers who pick a plan by Dec. 15 get coverage starting Jan. 1, 2027, and open enrollment closes Jan. 15, 2027, with later choices starting Feb. 1. The subsidy fight is also on Tuesday's ballot in Florida's U.S. Senate special election, where Sen. Ashley Moody voted against extending the credits in December 2025 — a vote her opponent, state Rep. Angie Nixon, has made a campaign theme, while Moody has emphasized lowering prescription drug costs and the cost of living. A Mason-Dixon poll conducted Sept. 28 to Oct. 1 put Moody at 50%, Nixon at 40% and no-party candidate Neil Gillespie at 2%.