Millions of Florida residents who purchase their insurance policies on healthcare.gov can begin shopping Sunday for coverage to take effect next year.
Twelve companies will offer so-called Obamacare plans on the healthcare.gov marketplace, where subsidies are available to lower the costs of monthly premiums, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation website shows. Another three are offering Obamacare-compliant plans outside of the healthcare.gov.
The OIR data show the average 2027 monthly health insurance premiums will increase by 10.4%, a percentage that doesn’t take into consideration the potential impact of premium subsidies.
Enrollment in healthcare.gov is open through Dec. 15 for coverage that takes effect at the start of next year. For policies that take effect Feb. 1, 2027, open enrollment is available through Jan. 15.
“Our navigators are prepared to really help people understand what might best fit their needs and to support them with making important decisions about accessing care,” Xonjenese Jacobs told the Florida Phoenix.
Jacobs is director of Florida Covering Kids and Families, which receives the federal grants to support navigation services across the state. This year’s grant is $1.379 million, which mirrors what it received last year but is a 90% reduction from 2024, when it received $13.79 million.
Florida Covering Kids and Families has contracted with five other navigator groups across the state to ensure they are ready to assist people in need of their services.
More than 3.85 million Floridians residents enrolled in the federal health insurance exchange and paid their first month premium to effectuate their 2026 coverage. That was a 10% dip from the 4.3 million who effectuated policies on the federal exchange in 2025.
That represents 450,000 people. Whether they became uninsured, purchased individual policies outside the exchange or enrolled in an employer sponsored health insurance policy isn’t clear yet, because 2026 uninsured rates won’t be released until next year.
America’s Health Ranking reports Florida’s that 10.9% of Florida’s population was uninsured in 2024, before elimination of the enhanced premium tax credits that helped lower the costs of the policies. Census data show tht the percent of adults aged 19-64 in Florida who were uninsured in 2024 was 15.5%
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects that national health expenditures will exceed $6 billion in 2026 — a 6.3% jump over 2025 expenditures — and will top $6.3 billion in 2027, or $18,295 per person. Health expenditures are projected to account for 18.8% of the gross domestic product in 2027.
Jacobs maintains that people understand the importance and financial security that health insurance offers and think creatively to keep their policies, despite the rising costs.
For some people on the marketplace, that means switching from a “platinum” or “gold” plan — with higher monthly premiums but lower deductibles — to a “bronze” plan, for which premiums are lower but deductibles — amounts people must pay for care before the coverage kicks in — are higher.
Some people under 30 years old who are shopping on healthcare.gov marketplace can choose a catastrophic plan, which has the highest deductibles and the lowest monthly premiums.
“There are numerous options in the marketplace. There are many alternatives for what people have in terms of their selection,” she said. “We have grown into a culture that really understands and values the needs for access to healthcare, and I think people are willing and wanting to make a way because they simply require this.”
Another way?
For people who cannot afford Affordable Care Act (or Obamacare) policies, Jacobs said, navigators can make referrals to federally qualified health centers and lower-cost charitable clinics.
Catalina “Cat” Jaramillo, a 43-year-old woman from Miami-Dade County who owns her home and loves her three dogs, is one of those people.
For years, she said, she went uninsured and “didn’t care.” All that changed in her late 30s, when chronic back pain drove her to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with kidney disease.
She bought an Obamacare plan.
“Thankfully, that covered my medication. I was able to see the specialist. I developed a relationship with them and I progressively got better,” she said during a Florida Voices for Health media availability last week.
But in 2026, she lost access to the enhanced tax credit that helped offset the costs of her policy. Her monthly premiums jumped from $180 a month to more than $1,000.
“The increase was just way too high. I couldn’t afford it,” she said.
Now she goes to Community Health of South Florida, a federally qualified health center where she can tap into care at a lower cost. For about $180 a month, she said, she can see her kidney disease specialists and get prescriptions to treat her ADHD and depression.
Jaramillo’s “very grateful to have this resource” but knows it’s not the same as her Obamacare plan, a health insurance policy that’s sold to qualifying individuals regardless of pre-existing medical conditions. The policies are required to cover 10 essential benefits, including emergency care, hospitalizations, maternity and newborn care, and prescription drugs.
“The other day, I had to go to urgent care, and I’m not looking forward to that bill,” she lamented. “But you know, it’s something that was inevitable.”
$18K in premiums annually
Dave Waalewyn is a commercial pilot who lives in Leesburg and long relied on his employer for health coverage. Waalewyn found himself without health insurance after his former employer, Spirit Airlines, ceased operations earlier this year.
For the first time, Waalewyn had to procure an individual health insurance plan and turned to a broker recommended to him by his financial adviser. They found a plan on the so-called “private” market, outside the federal healthcare exchange, that cost $800 a month. Because it doesn’t have to comply with Obamacare regulations, the policy was medically underwritten, meaning he had to answer questions about his medical history.
Waalewyn is required to pass Federal Aviation Agency screening to fly, and he has. That’s why he said disclosing the results of an abnormal stress test and a follow-up heart catheterization that showed “a trivial amount of plaque” didn’t cross his mind when he shopped for his policy.
“So, as far as I was concerned, everything was fine. So, I signed up for this $800 a month policy. About a week later, I get a letter in the mail saying, ‘Hey, what’s going on with this medical information? You know, you didn’t tell us about this,’ ” Waalewyn recalled.
Out of an abundance of caution lest the carrier deny future claims, Waalewyn said, he walked away from the non-Obamacare plan and turned to healthcare.gov. Eventually, he chose a policy that costs $1,500 a month.
“Luckily, today I start a new job and I will have medical insurance starting in December, so I don’t have to, you know, worry about that anymore until I go on Medicare at the end of the year next year in 2027,” he said.
If not for getting hired by another airline, he said, he would have paid $18,000 annually for his Obamacare policy. That doesn’t include deductibles or co-pays.
No ACA protections
Carson Hornish is a health insurance broker in Tampa. He has clients who are enrolled in the healthcare.gov marketplace and says for those who qualify for the remaining tax subsidies (as opposed to the lapsed enhanced subsidies) that lower the costs of monthly premiums, there’s not a better plan out there.
“So, I’m never gonna push somebody away from Obamacare, especially if we’re getting a subsidy,” he said.
But he has clients who purchase what he calls “private” plans.
Those plans are medically underwritten and not required to be issued to everyone. They aren’t required to cover mental health, substance abuse disorders, or prescription drugs. And while Obamacare plans cannot contain lifetime caps or annual limits, insurance companies can limit what they spend on policyholders’ care annually or over a lifetime.
Those caveats have led some, including the American Lung Association, to describe them as “junk plans.”
It’s what more of Hornish’s clients and prospective clients are looking for these days.
“I wanna say 1,000% with 100% confidence,” Hornish told the Phoenix when asked whether more people are asking him for non-ACA coverage.
He also says that just because non-ACA-compliant plans aren’t required to meet all the requirements in the federal health care law, it doesn’t mean the plans don’t offer benefits.
“With the private marketplace, I can find whatever plan tailored for whatever person that needs coverage. So, if someone comes to me, saying, ‘Hey, I want mental health,’ well, I’m going to show them the plan that’s going to cover mental health. But it might not cover pregnancy, right?”
_________
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
