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2027 Marketplace Premiums: What Early Retirees 50–64 Can Do Before Open Enrollment

A stethoscope, a reflex hammer and a blood pressure cuff on a white surface, with a sticky note reading “$63,840?”.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

For people between 50 and 64 who buy their own health insurance, this was probably the most expensive year they've had. Marketplace enrollees saw what they pay for 2026 coverage, after tax credits, rise 58% on average, KFF found. Now insurers have filed their proposed rates for 2027, and they're up again. For this age group, though, one line on the income scale often matters more than the rate increase.

See what one dollar over can cost

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By Margaret Linwood · Updated Sep 29, 2026 · Reviewed against HealthCare.gov, IRS, CMS, HHS, KFF, Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker

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From 2021 through 2025, the premium tax credit had no upper income limit. That ended on December 31, 2025. Now eligibility generally runs from 100% to 400% of the federal poverty line, and at 400% the credit doesn't taper off. It stops. For one person, the line for 2027 coverage is $63,840. For a couple, it's $86,560.

Age raises the stakes, since premiums can be up to three times higher for older people than for younger ones. Many early retirees have more control over where they land than they think, because they decide which accounts to draw from.

Leaving a job before 65? See your options

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If job-based coverage ends before 65

The day employer coverage ends, the clock starts. A few rules decide which doors stay open, and some of them surprise people.

  1. COBRA's real price. It keeps the employer's plan, but you can be charged up to 102% of the plan's full cost, including the share your employer used to pay. Plenty of people have never seen that figure.
  2. How long COBRA lasts. After a job loss it usually runs for up to 18 months, and it generally applies to employers with 20 or more employees.
  3. The marketplace window. Losing job-based coverage opens a special enrollment period, with 60 days to pick a plan. Retirement often brings an income drop, which may put a household under the subsidy line.
  4. Leaving COBRA early. Drop it on your own outside open enrollment, and you generally have to wait for the next open enrollment to buy a marketplace plan. COBRA running out counts as a qualifying event, but deciding it costs too much doesn't.
  5. Other doors. A spouse's employer plan usually lets you join within a limited window, and some employers offer retiree health benefits. Short-term plans aren't ACA plans, and they can turn applicants down.

Whichever door you take, income decides much of the price. The article lays out the steps worth taking before open enrollment, roughly in order.

See the 6 steps before open enrollment

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