Open Enrollment 2027 dates by state, and what to do if you miss it

The short answer

Open Enrollment for 2027 Marketplace coverage on HealthCare.gov starts Nov 1, 2026 and ends Jan 15, 2027. Enroll or change plans by Dec 15, 2026 and pay the first premium, and coverage starts January 1, 2027. Enroll between December 16 and January 15, and it starts February 1.Source 1 After January 15 you can enroll only with a Special Enrollment Period, through Medicaid or CHIP, or in a plan sold outside the Marketplace.

2027 Open Enrollment dates for all 50 states and DC

Each row names the exchange your state uses, its 2027 window, the last day to enroll for coverage that starts January 1, and the page the dates came from. “Confirm” means the exchange had not published that date, or its site could not be read, when we checked on October 14, 2026; the link goes to the exchange. Each state name links to our guide for that state.

Deadlines are 11:59 PM local time on the day shown. A state exchange can extend or change its window; the exchange's own page wins over this table. Rows marked “confirm” are re-checked as exchanges publish.

What changed for 2027

• The HealthCare.gov window is the full one. Nov 1, 2026 to Jan 15, 2027, with Dec 15, 2026 as the last day for a January 1 start, as HealthCare.gov shows on October 14, 2026.Source 1 Vermont's exchange says its own window is shorter this year and ends December 28, 2026.
• The enhanced tax credits are gone, and premiums are going up. The enhanced premium tax credits that held the benchmark plan to at most 8.5% of income expired at the end of 2025, and insurers proposed a median increase of 15% for 2027 across 276 insurers in all 50 states and DC (proposed, not final).Source 5 What that does to a household at $30,000, $45,000 and $70,000, and what America First Healthcare clients actually paid, is on how much health insurance costs per month.
• The out-of-pocket maximum rises. The most a Marketplace plan can make you pay for covered in-network care goes from $10,600 to $12,000 for one person and from $21,200 to $24,000 for a family.Source 4
• Auto-renewal is not a decision. If your plan renews itself, the price and the network can still change. Compare the renewal notice with at least two other plans before December 15.

Missed it? What still works after January 15

A Special Enrollment Period. A qualifying life event opens a window, usually 60 days from the event, to enroll in a Marketplace plan outside Open Enrollment.Source 2 In plain words, the events HealthCare.gov lists:

• You lost coverage: through an employer, COBRA or a family member's plan; your plan was discontinued; you turned 26 and came off a parent's plan; your child aged out of CHIP; you lost Medicaid or CHIP in the past 90 days.
• Your household changed: you got married, had a baby, adopted a child or took in a foster child, got divorced or legally separated and lost coverage, or someone on your plan died.
• You moved: to a new ZIP code or county, to the United States from abroad, to or from the place you attend school, to where you live and work as a seasonal worker, or to or from transitional housing.
• Other events: becoming a U.S. citizen, gaining membership in a federally recognized tribe, leaving incarceration, starting or ending AmeriCorps service, or being affected by a natural disaster or another event you could not control.

Medicaid and CHIP. “You can apply for free or low-cost coverage through Medicaid and CHIP any time, all year.” If you qualify, you can enroll immediately.Source 3

Plans sold outside the Marketplace, any day of the year. America First Healthcare helps households with these all year, and tells you what each one is before you decide:

• Private plans sold outside the Marketplace. Some follow the ACA rules without the tax credit; others are underwritten, so they can price or decline you on health. Ask which one you are looking at.
• Short-term medical plans. Real insurance, not ACA coverage: designed to fill a temporary gap, and able to exclude pre-existing conditions.Source 6
• Health care sharing programs. Not insurance. Members share medical costs under the program's guidelines; there is no insurance contract and no guarantee a bill will be shared.
• Fixed indemnity and hospital indemnity plans. Pay a set amount per day or event. CMS calls them a form of income replacement that is not a substitute for comprehensive coverage; useful on top of a core plan, risky as your only one.Source 6

Among the 2,582 households who bought a plan through us between July 1 and October 13, 2026, half pay $225 a month or less. The spread by state and by kind of plan is on the cost page. What each kind of plan covers and leaves out is in private health insurance in the USA.

Questions people ask about Open Enrollment 2027

References

1. HealthCare.gov, Dates and deadlines. https://www.healthcare.gov/quick-guide/dates-and-deadlines/. Checked October 14, 2026.
2. HealthCare.gov, Special Enrollment Period. https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage-outside-open-enrollment/special-enrollment-period/. Checked October 14, 2026.
3. HealthCare.gov, Your options outside Open Enrollment. https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage-outside-open-enrollment/your-options/. Checked October 14, 2026.
4. HealthCare.gov glossary, Out-of-pocket maximum. https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-limit/. Checked October 14, 2026.
5. KFF, How much and why ACA Marketplace premiums are going up in 2027. https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/how-much-and-why-aca-marketplace-premiums-are-going-up-in-2027/. Checked October 12, 2026.
6. CMS, Short-term, limited-duration insurance and independent, noncoordinated excepted benefits coverage. https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/short-term-limited-duration-insurance-and-independent-noncoordinated-excepted-benefits-coverage-cms. Checked October 12, 2026.
7. State exchange pages, one per row of the table above, each linked from its Source cell with the date it was checked.

Educational only. Not medical, legal, tax or personalized insurance advice. Plans are offered and underwritten by third-party carriers; health care sharing programs are not insurance. America First Healthcare is an independent licensed insurance agency and is not the Health Insurance Marketplace. Verify any agent's license through the NIPR lookup. All states.