For someone in their early 60s who buys health coverage directly from an insurer rather than through an employer, 2027 is shaping up to bring a second straight year of double-digit premium requests. That age group is unusually exposed: federal rules already let insurers charge older adults close to the legal maximum relative to a 21-year-old, and most people in their early 60s are still several years from qualifying for Medicare. Newly filed rate requests for next year show insurers nationwide asking regulators for a median of 15 percent more, with dozens of companies pushing well past that number.
A Median 15 Percent Increase Across 276 Insurers
Across 276 insurers participating in the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, filings submitted this year show a median proposed rate increase of 15 percent for 2027 individual-market plans. The proposed changes range from a single insurer requesting a 1 percent decrease up to a high of 54 percent, and 51 insurers are asking state regulators to approve increases above 25 percent. Most requests, about 63 percent, cluster between 10 and 25 percent, with a quarter of insurers below 11 percent and a quarter above 22 percent.
The count comes from the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, a research partnership between the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF that reviews publicly filed insurer rate documents each summer. Its latest analysis, updated August 3, describes these as preliminary numbers that state insurance departments can still revise during the rate-review process, with final 2027 premiums expected in late summer. The filings mark the second consecutive year of double-digit median proposed increases and the second-highest requested change since 2018.
If the proposed 15 percent median holds through review, premiums for a typical marketplace plan will have climbed by more than a third over just two years, following an 18 percent proposed median increase for 2026. That comparison sets up an important distinction in how these numbers get reported, and misread.
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Why the 2027 Number Cannot Be Compared to 2026’s 26 Percent
The 15 percent figure is not the same measurement as the 26 percent increase that made headlines when 2026 rates were finalized, and the Health System Tracker’s report is explicit that comparing the two is not an apples-to-apples exercise. The 15 percent median for 2027 is an enrollment-weighted average across each insurer’s full lineup of bronze, silver, gold and platinum plans in a given state. The 26 percent figure tracks only the finalized benchmark silver plan, the specific plan tied to federal subsidy calculations, and it was measured after the rate-review process closed rather than at the proposal stage.
For 2026, the median proposed rate change was 18 percent before review, and by the time state regulators finished approving requests, the benchmark silver premium had risen 26 percent on average once finalized. Applying that same proposed-to-finalized gap to 2027 would be speculation the analysis does not make. The reported 15 percent for 2027 is what insurers asked for in initial filings this summer, not a forecast of what will ultimately be approved once state reviews are complete.
The Expired Tax Credits Reshaping Who Is Left in the Pool
Insurers cited several drivers behind the 2027 requests, starting with the underlying cost of medical care and prescription drugs, which they estimate rose at a median rate of 10 percent this year, above the roughly 8 percent average of recent years. But the factor unique to this market is the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits at the end of 2025, which made 2026 the first full year since those credits were introduced that marketplace enrollees felt the full effect of losing the extra subsidy.
Roughly 87 percent of people who selected a marketplace plan in 2026 still receive some premium subsidy, but the smaller, less generous credits pushed many healthier enrollees to drop coverage rather than absorb a higher monthly payment, leaving behind a comparatively sicker group of people still enrolled. Insurers building their 2027 rates on top of that thinner, sicker risk pool estimate the shift is adding roughly four percentage points to premiums for a second consecutive year, on top of the underlying medical cost trend.
Why Ages 60 to 64 Sit at the Top of the Rating Curve
Federal rating rules limit how much an insurer can vary a premium by age, but the limit still allows a wide gap. Under the Department of Health and Human Services’ fair health insurance premiums regulation, an insurer may not charge an older adult more than three times what it charges a 21-year-old for the same plan in the same rating area. The rule sets one-year age bands for every age from 21 through 63, then groups everyone age 64 and older into a single top band, which means people in their late 50s through early 60s are rated at or near the ceiling of that 3-to-1 ratio for years before they ever reach Medicare eligibility at 65.
That structure means a national double-digit premium increase does not land evenly across an insurer’s customers. A household in its early 60s buying coverage without an employer plan or a spouse’s plan to fall back on is already paying close to the highest premium the rating curve allows for its age. A 15 percent median increase, or one of the 51 filings above 25 percent, compounds on top of a premium that was already the most expensive age tier the regulation permits.
What Happens Before Rates Become Final
State insurance departments still have months to review, question and, in some cases, reduce the requests insurers filed this summer before anyone enrolls in a 2027 plan. The Health System Tracker’s review describes final 2027 premiums as expected in late summer, after regulators complete their state-by-state review, and any individual filing could be approved as submitted, trimmed, or in rare cases raised within the bounds regulators allow. Until that process closes for each state, the 15 percent median and the 51 filings above 25 percent remain requests insurers have put in writing, not settled prices anyone will actually pay.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by The Financial Wire editorial team.
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David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
