Ambetter, the marketplace brand of Centene, is leaving the Delaware and New Hampshire ACA marketplaces for 2027, and Molina Healthcare is shrinking its marketplace business to about six states. Ambetter says its Delaware plan will end Dec. 31, 2026, and a matching notice covers New Hampshire. Anyone enrolled in one of those plans has to choose a different insurer before 2027 begins.
The first thing for an Ambetter member in either state is that the plan stops, not that the price changes. Coverage keeps working through Dec. 31, and the replacement has to be picked in the marketplace’s open enrollment, which closes after the date that decides whether the new plan starts Jan. 1.
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Which Ambetter members lose their plan?
Two Centene subsidiaries are named in provider notices, both dated Sept. 2. Ambetter Health of Delaware says it will discontinue its marketplace product for the 2027 plan year, effective Dec. 31, 2026, and the New Hampshire notice says the same for Ambetter from NH Healthy Families. Members keep covered services through Dec. 31, and the company says it will notify enrolled members of the change.
Doctors and hospitals can keep treating the members through Dec. 31, and claims for care on or before that date still go to Ambetter. The notices tell providers not to contact patients about the change on their own, which leaves the insurer’s letter, and the marketplace itself, as the way most members will learn what to do.
The exit is limited to the marketplace plans. The Delaware notice says Delaware First Health, the Medicaid plan, along with Wellcare and the Dual Align plans stay active, and the New Hampshire notice says NH Healthy Families, the Medicaid plan, and Wellcare’s stand-alone drug plan remain available. Centene is not leaving the ACA market as a whole: Healthcare Dive reported Oct. 21 that the company is adding 55 counties in Alabama, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey and Texas, and covers more than 3.5 million people on the exchanges nationally.
No source gives a count of how many Delaware or New Hampshire residents hold an Ambetter plan. Centene did not respond to Healthcare Dive’s request for county-level details.
How far is Molina cutting back?
Molina’s chief executive, Joseph Zubretsky, announced the plan on the company’s July 23 earnings call, according to Becker’s Payer Issues. Molina would concentrate its marketplace business in about six states, down from the 13 or 14 where it operated, and expects its pricing approach to cut marketplace revenue by about $1 billion in 2027. Reports do not name the six states that stay or the states that go.
The shrinkage is already visible in the numbers. Marketplace membership fell from 655,000 at the end of 2025 to 267,000 in the third quarter of 2026, a 59.2 percent drop over nine months, Insurance Business reported Oct. 22. Becker’s described the retreat in a broader list: in its Oct. 21 roundup of 2027 ACA footprints, it said Molina is cutting more than half its marketplace states, down to six. The July report put the target at about six states.
Becker’s also reported that marketplace membership stood at 283,000 on June 30, against 690,000 a year earlier. Because the states are unnamed, a Molina marketplace member cannot tell from those reports whether the plan survives. The insurer’s own notice, and the marketplace account, are the places that will say.
What is the deadline to pick a new plan?
For HealthCare.gov states, open enrollment for 2027 coverage opens Nov. 1 and closes Jan. 15, 2027, according to HealthCare.gov’s dates page. The cutoff for coverage that starts Jan. 1 is Dec. 15, 2026. People who enroll or change plans from Dec. 16 through Jan. 15 get coverage starting Feb. 1.
Both Ambetter notices repeat that date: members must enroll by Dec. 15, 2026, to have coverage on Jan. 1. Anyone who waits until January can still sign up in the window, but would go without the new plan for January. The old plan will already be over.
The window matters because it is the last easy one. After Jan. 15, HealthCare.gov says a change generally takes a special enrollment period tied to a qualifying event. The safer course for an affected member is to choose a plan during open enrollment and not rely on the later exception.
What will the replacement plans cost?
The change lands in a year when premiums are rising again. KFF’s review of the 2027 enrollment period found the average benchmark silver premium is up 13 percent, with HealthCare.gov states at 11 percent and state-run marketplaces at 16 percent. Insurers had asked for a median 15 percent increase.
KFF also notes that the enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025, and that households above 400 percent of the poverty level no longer qualify for premium tax credits. A person forced to switch is therefore comparing prices in a market where the numbers have moved for everyone, not only for the insurer that left. Cigna is also rolling back its exchange business, in a move Becker’s says affects about 369,000 members.
Will the replacement for an Ambetter plan in Delaware or New Hampshire be in place by Dec. 15?
A health plan that ends on Dec. 31 forces a decision on a deadline, and a higher premium on the replacement lands in a household budget that has other costs to carry. Waiting past Dec. 15 means starting the year without the new plan.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
