More than 350,000 people who buy Affordable Care Act coverage through Cigna will need a new insurer for 2027. The company has told regulators and investors it is exiting the individual market entirely, on- and off-exchange, in every one of the 11 states where it currently sells plans. Unlike some carriers narrowing their footprint in a handful of counties, Cigna’s departure is a full withdrawal from the ACA business line altogether.
A shrinking business the company chose not to keep scaling
Cigna Chief Operating Officer Brian Evanko told investors on the company’s first-quarter earnings call that the marketplace segment was too small relative to the management attention it required, and had been contracting for several years already. “This is small business for us today, and it’s been shrinking in recent years,” Evanko said. “The decision will allow us to further intensify focus on our core growth platforms across The Cigna Group.” He added that Cigna did not see a path to scaling the marketplace business into something that would move the needle for the broader company, and framed the exit as a proactive step rather than a response to a specific loss.
Cigna Chief Financial Officer Ann Dennison told the same call, reported by Fierce Healthcare, that stepping back from the individual market would let the company “focus on areas where we can best offer differentiated value” elsewhere in its portfolio. The exit is not a sign of broader financial trouble: Cigna posted $1.65 billion in first-quarter profit, up from $1.3 billion a year earlier, with revenue growth concentrated in its Evernorth pharmacy and specialty-services unit rather than the individual health plans it is now leaving behind.
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The states losing a carrier and what happens to current members
According to KFF’s tracker of insurer participation changes for 2027, Cigna reported first-quarter on-exchange enrollment of more than 350,000 individuals, all of whom will lose access to a Cigna marketplace plan when the exit takes effect for the 2027 plan year. Evanko told investors Cigna would support existing members through the transition to new coverage and said the departure would not affect benefits or provider networks for people still enrolled through the end of their current plan year. That leaves the practical task of finding a replacement plan to the annual open enrollment period, when a departing insurer’s customers are automatically prompted to pick a new one rather than being enrolled by default in whatever is left. Because Cigna is exiting the individual market outright rather than trimming a few counties, its enrollees do not have the option of simply moving to a cheaper Cigna plan in the same network; every one of the more than 350,000 members has to select a different insurer entirely, which in some counties may mean a different set of hospitals and specialists than the ones they have used for years.
One exit among several this season
Cigna’s departure is not an isolated event. KFF counted nine insurers announcing 2027 exits as of September 15, against six announcing entries into new states, a pattern the organization links to the fallout from the enhanced premium tax credits expiring at the end of 2025. Insurers that are staying in the market, meanwhile, have proposed a median rate increase of about 15 percent for 2027, the second straight year of double-digit asks. Cigna’s exit fits a broader theme this earnings season: several national carriers have concluded that a smaller, costlier individual-market risk pool no longer justifies the operational overhead of running a marketplace business, even when, as in Cigna’s case, the rest of the company is profitable. KFF’s tracker draws on rate filings, CMS’s own landscape files, and enrollment data from Mark Farrah Associates rather than press releases alone, and it notes that in several states more than one insurer is exiting the same market simultaneously, which compounds the choice problem for enrollees in those counties beyond what Cigna’s departure does on its own.
When a plan leaves the market
Losing an insurer mid-relationship means starting over on the details that took years to learn: which pharmacies are in network, which specialists require a referral, and which prior-authorization forms a new carrier will actually accept. None of that gets easier by waiting until open enrollment is already underway.
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This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI and reviewed by an editor.
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.
