Florida premiums rose 31.5% before subsidies for 2026, in the state with the largest marketplace in the country. If you lost your tax credit this year, you felt both at once.
| Rate change | 2026: +31.5% approved · 2027: filed, no statewide average published |
|---|---|
| Market size | 4.7M enrollees — largest in the country |
| Where you enroll | healthcare.gov |
| Medicaid | Not expanded — nearly 400,000 in the coverage gap |
| Short-term plans | 36 months under state law — see the federal note below |
2027 rates marked approved are final; marked filed means carriers have submitted but the state has not signed off, and approved rates routinely differ from filings. All figures are statewide weighted averages before subsidies — your county and your carrier will differ, sometimes by a lot. Verified against state filings October 6, 2026. Ask me to price your own county before you decide anything on these.
I'm a Tampa health insurance broker, based at 5701 E Hillsborough Avenue — so Florida is the state I know best, and it had one of the roughest 2026s in the country.
If you're in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, or Polk, we can do this in person. Everywhere else in Florida it's a phone call, and the advice is identical either way. What changes county to county is which hospital systems and physician groups are actually in network — in Tampa Bay that usually means checking a plan against BayCare, AdventHealth, Tampa General, and Moffitt before anyone signs anything.
Florida Office of Insurance Regulation filings put the average 2026 increase at 31.5% before subsidies, taking the average individual premium from roughly $728 a month in 2025 to about $821 in 2026. That's on top of losing the enhanced premium tax credits on January 1.
Florida also has the largest Marketplace in the nation — about 4.7 million enrollees in 2025 — which means more Floridians absorbed that increase than residents of any other state. Florida's uninsured rate hit a historic low of 10.7% in 2023 and is widely expected to rise following the subsidy expiration, though published projections vary.
For 2027, Florida is the one state where nobody can tell you the market average — including me. Florida's trade-secret statute lets carriers redact their actuarial memoranda, so the filings that would let anyone calculate a weighted statewide average aren't public. What is visible is the spread: individual carriers filed anywhere from about 3.9% to 39.1% for 2027, averaging roughly 15% unweighted across companies. That unweighted number is not the same thing as what the market is actually paying, and any site quoting you a single tidy Florida figure is either guessing or repeating a guess. What it means practically is that in Florida, more than anywhere else I work, the carrier you pick decides your increase. That is worth twenty minutes on the phone.
One detail that shows how people responded: the share of Florida enrollees receiving cost-sharing reductions fell from about two-thirds to under half, because so many moved from Silver plans down to Bronze to hold the monthly number down. That trade lowers the premium and raises what you pay when you actually use the plan.
Florida is one of the 22 states I serve that use the federal platform rather than running their own exchange. States on healthcare.gov have generally seen steeper benchmark increases than states operating their own marketplaces, and Florida landed on the wrong side of that gap through no decision any Floridian made.
Florida has not expanded Medicaid. Adults below 100% of the federal poverty level generally can't get Marketplace subsidies and don't qualify for Florida Medicaid either — an estimated 400,000 people. If your income is very low, that's the first thing to check, and it's the reason I ask about income before anything else.
This is where Florida differs sharply from much of the country. Florida statute permits short-term policies with initial terms of under 12 months and total duration, including renewals, of up to 36 months — far longer than the federal default. As of early 2026 at least six insurers were selling short-term coverage in Florida, some with the full 36-month duration available.
That makes Florida one of the more workable states for bridge and non-Marketplace coverage. It also makes it a state where reading the actual term matters, because "short-term" here can mean three months or three years depending on the policy.
What the federal rule actually says. The 2024 federal rule defining short-term, limited-duration insurance caps the initial term at three months and total duration at four months including renewals. That rule has not been repealed or struck down. On August 7, 2025 the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury said they do not intend to prioritize enforcing it, and signalled new rulemaking. The longer durations described above rest on that discretionary non-enforcement position together with state law — not on a change to the federal definition. It can be revisited, so ask me where it stands before you plan around a long term.
What these plans are, stated plainly. Short-term plans are medically underwritten — the application asks about your health history, and coverage can be declined, limited, or priced based on what it says. They are not ACA-compliant: pre-existing conditions may be excluded, and the essential health benefits guaranteed on every Marketplace plan are not automatic. If anyone in the household is managing a condition, an ACA plan’s guaranteed coverage is usually worth the premium difference, and I’ll tell you so even though it’s the less profitable answer for me.
For 2027 coverage, premium tax credits end above $63,840 for one person and $132,000 for a household of four. Above that line your credit is zero and you're paying Florida's full post-increase premium. Above that line it's worth looking at everything available in Florida rather than only what healthcare.gov shows you — on-exchange menus here lean heavily toward narrow HMO networks, and that isn't the whole market.
Florida licenses are public. Look up NPN 21388659 in the Florida Department of Financial Services licensee search. Rate filings are public too, through the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, if you want to see the increases yourself rather than take my word for them.
Nothing. Brokers are paid a commission by the carrier, and it's built into the premium whether you use one or not — enroll direct and the carrier simply keeps it. The plan price is identical either way. There's a fuller explanation, along with my NPN, on the licensing page.
Florida Office of Insurance Regulation filings show an average increase of 31.5% before subsidies for 2026, moving the average individual premium from roughly $728 per month in 2025 to about $821 in 2026. Enrollees who also lost enhanced premium tax credits experienced a much larger increase in what they actually pay.
Individual health insurance in Florida is sold through healthcare.gov if you want a Marketplace plan, or directly from carriers if you're buying outside it. Florida has no state exchange. You can enroll on your own at no cost, or through a licensed broker at exactly the same premium — the commission is built into the price either way. What a broker adds is a comparison across both markets and a network check before you commit.
Yes. Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so adults under 100% of the federal poverty level generally cannot receive Marketplace subsidies and do not qualify for Florida Medicaid. An estimated 400,000 Floridians fall into this gap.
Florida statute permits initial terms of less than 12 months and total duration including renewals of up to 36 months, which is considerably longer than the federal default. As of early 2026 at least six insurers offered short-term coverage in Florida, some with the full 36-month duration.
Licensed in Florida and 28 other states as Rohr Health Advisors LLC. See the full list and verify the license, or start with the situation that matches yours.
Last reviewed October 6, 2026 by Cavin Rohr, licensed insurance broker — NPN 21388659. The rate figures, enrollment dates and subsidy thresholds on this page were verified against state insurance filings and federal sources on that date. Dates and rates move; ask me to confirm yours before you rely on one.
Twenty minutes. Both markets priced side by side for your household.
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