Experts explain rising health insurance costs
The gist
KFF says ACA benchmark premiums will rise 13% in 2027 to a $704 monthly average.
Higher costs are squeezing wages and voters' wallets before the midterms.
How it unfolded
- Aug 25, 2025Experts said health insurance prices were likely to rise the next year, citing more people receiving care, rising emergency room visits and mental health claims, and healthier customers dropping individual-market coverage.
- Jan 29, 2026Harvard's Meredith Rosenthal said monthly bills were rising for many Americans, with ACA plan enrollees seeing particularly high increases after enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025.
- Feb 2026Roughly 19.2 million people were actively enrolled in ACA marketplace plans, per HHS, with enrollment down 12% from a year earlier.