Florida's 2026 ACA Subsidy Cliff: Who Lost Their Credit, What It Costs, and What to Do Before 2027

This page is for people in Florida who buy their own health insurance through HealthCare.gov, or are deciding whether to buy a plan for 2027: people who are self-employed, retired early, between jobs, or working somewhere that doesn't offer coverage. If your coverage comes through an employer, Medicare or Medicaid, most of what follows won't apply to you.

Current as of September 24, 2026. Every figure here comes from a document listed under Sources at the bottom, with its date: laws, court opinions and government data, and, where it says so, a company filing or KFF.

Here's the short version. Since January 1, 2026, the premium tax credit that lowers marketplace premiums stops completely at 400% of the federal poverty level. For 2027 coverage, that line is $63,840 of household income for one person, $86,560 for two, $109,280 for three and $132,000 for four. One dollar over and you get no credit at all. Under the line you can still get one, but you're expected to put a bigger share of your income toward your premium than you did in 2025.

The second change shows up at tax time. The marketplace pays the credit to your insurer each month in advance, based on the income you expect. Starting with your 2026 tax return, if more was paid than your final income supports, you pay all of the difference back. There's no longer a cap.

Where the line is for 2026 and for 2027

The line is four times the federal poverty guideline for the number of people in your tax household. Which year's guideline counts depends on the year of coverage: it's the one published most recently before that year's open enrollment began. So 2026 coverage uses the guidelines HHS published in January 2025, and 2027 coverage uses the ones it published in January 2026.

Florida uses the figures for the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C.

"Household income" means modified adjusted gross income: yours and your spouse's if you file a joint return, plus that of anyone you claim as a dependent who has to file their own tax return. If you're married, you generally have to file jointly to get the credit at all. It starts from the adjusted gross income on your Form 1040 and adds back three things if you have them: tax-exempt interest, Social Security benefits that aren't taxed, and foreign income you excluded. It isn't your gross pay, and if you own a business, it isn't your revenue.

The line isn't a slope. A single person buying 2027 coverage with $63,800 of income gets whatever credit the formula gives. At $63,900 they get none.

Who lost their credit in Florida, and who didn't

From 2021 through 2025, two laws, the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act, made the credit bigger and took the 400% line away. Nobody was expected to pay more than 8.5% of their income for the benchmark plan, the second-lowest-cost silver plan where they lived, however much they earned. (Silver is one of the four levels marketplace plans come in; more on those below.) Those rules ended December 31, 2025.

Congress hasn't brought them back. On December 11, 2025, the Senate declined to take up two bills, one of which would have extended the bigger credits through 2028. On January 8, 2026, the House passed its own extension through 2028, and the Senate hasn't voted on it. As of the date at the top of this page, no law extending the credits has been enacted.

Florida has more people in the marketplace than any other state, and most of them still get a credit. What changed shows at the edges: almost twice as many Floridians picked a 2026 plan with no credit paid in advance, about 443,000 fewer had coverage in effect in February, and the share on silver plans fell from 66% to 49%. Here are CMS's figures for Florida's open enrollment and its February count.

The full price went up too. The state's Office of Insurance Regulation approved 2026 rate changes that averaged 34.1% across the insurers, weighted by how many people each one covered in 2025, before any credit.

Florida hasn't expanded Medicaid, so an adult with income between 100% and 138% of the poverty line gets marketplace credits here rather than Medicaid. Below 100% there's generally no credit, and in Florida most adults below it don't qualify for Medicaid either.

The move away from silver matters because cost-sharing reductions, the discounts on deductibles and copays for people with income between 100% and 250% of the poverty line, only come with a silver plan. Bronze plans usually cost less each month and have higher deductibles.

What it costs

Under the line, the credit is the difference between two numbers. One is the price of the benchmark plan. The other is the share of your income the law expects you to put toward that plan. The credit pays the rest, and you can use it on a plan at any level, bronze, silver, gold or platinum: pick a cheaper plan and you pay less, pick a more expensive one and you pay the difference. The level has nothing to do with the quality of care. It sets how the cost of your care splits between you and the plan, with bronze leaving you the most to pay when you get care and platinum the least.

That expected share is what went up. Here it is for 2025, 2026 and 2027 coverage, by household income as a share of the poverty line.

Within each band, the share climbs from the first figure to the second as income rises.

An illustration, not a client. A made-up single person with $55,000 of income, the same every year. Under the 2025 rules they were expected to put $4,197 a year toward the benchmark plan. Under the 2026 rules it's $5,478, and under the 2027 rules it's $5,621, about $1,400 a year more than in 2025. That's their cost for the benchmark plan whatever its price, because the credit pays the rest; a cheaper plan costs them less, a pricier one more.

The same kind of illustration, at the line. A made-up 60-year-old living alone in Duval County, with CMS's real 2026 prices. The benchmark silver plan there cost $1,447 a month at full price. With $62,000 of 2026 income, just under the $62,600 line, they're expected to pay 9.96% of it, about $515 a month, and the credit pays the rest, about $933. With $63,000, just over the line, there's no credit and they pay the full $1,447. That's about $11,190 more a year in premium for $1,000 more income.

Over the line, what you pay depends on your age and your county, because you pay the full price. Here are full monthly prices in eight Florida counties from CMS's plan data, rounded to the dollar: the benchmark silver plan in 2025 and 2026, and the cheapest bronze plan in 2026.

The cheapest bronze plan saves money each month and asks a lot if you get sick. In seven of these counties in 2026 it had a $9,000 deductible for one person, and in Collier $10,125, and the most you'd pay in a year for covered care was $10,600 and $10,150.

2027 works the same way, with the 2027 line, the 2027 percentages and 2027 prices. The prices aren't out yet; more on that below.

The cap on paying the credit back is gone

When you enroll, you estimate your income for the year, and the marketplace pays your credit to your insurer every month in advance. When you file your taxes, Form 8962 compares what was paid with the credit your actual income supports.

If too much was paid, you pay the difference back. Through tax year 2025, if your income stayed under 400% of the poverty line, the amount you paid back was capped. For 2025, a single filer paid back at most $375, $975 or $1,625, depending on income, and other filers twice that. A federal law signed July 4, 2025 removed the cap starting with tax year 2026. The IRS puts it plainly: "There is no repayment cap for tax years after 2025." So on the 2026 return you file in 2027, you repay all of the excess, at any income.

Whenever there's been a line, going over it has meant repaying all of it, because above the line you're owed nothing. What's new is that the same now applies when you stay under the line but earn more than you estimated.

An illustration, with made-up round numbers. Say you're single, you estimated $58,000 for 2026, and the marketplace paid $600 a month in advance credit, $7,200 for the year. If your 2026 income comes in at $64,000, over the $62,600 line, you're owed no credit, and you repay the full $7,200 with your 2026 return.

What helps: when your income changes, update your application on HealthCare.gov as soon as you can, so the advance credit is adjusted for the rest of the year instead of all at once when you file.

If you're close to the line

I'm not a tax professional, and this isn't tax advice. These are the questions I'd want answered before picking a 2027 plan, and I'd take them to whoever does your taxes.

Health savings account contributions lower your income for this purpose. What you put into a health savings account is deducted before your adjusted gross income is figured, so it lowers the number the line is measured against. The limit is $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage in 2026, and $4,500 and $9,000 in 2027. If you're 55 or older you can put in another $1,000. You need an HSA-eligible plan, and since January 1, 2026, bronze and catastrophic plans offered as individual coverage on the marketplace count, even if you buy the same plan directly from the insurer.

So do pre-tax retirement contributions. Money you put into a 401(k) through work isn't counted in your taxable pay, and contributions you deduct to a traditional IRA come off before adjusted gross income is figured. Both lower the number the line is measured against.

If you're self-employed, the health insurance deduction lowers it too, and the two calculations feed into each other. Deducting your premiums lowers your adjusted gross income, which changes your credit, which changes the premiums you can deduct. The IRS's Publication 974 walks through two ways to work that out. This is where a tax professional earns their fee.

What's settled and what isn't for 2027

The dates. Open enrollment for 2027 coverage starts November 1, 2026. Pick a plan by December 15, 2026 and it starts January 1, 2027. The window stays open through January 15, 2027 on HealthCare.gov, which is Florida's marketplace, and a plan picked between December 16 and January 15 starts February 1. That's what CMS, the federal agency that runs HealthCare.gov, said on July 27, 2026 and repeated on July 31 and August 4, and it's what HealthCare.gov's dates page says.

If you already have a marketplace plan and do nothing, HealthCare.gov usually re-enrolls you automatically, and that coverage starts January 1. If you're new, or you're switching, a plan you pick after December 15 doesn't start until February 1, so January 15 is the last day to sign up, not the safe one.

Why you may have seen December 15 as the end, and why the close is still contested. In June 2025, HHS finalized a rule that shortened open enrollment starting with 2027 coverage; for HealthCare.gov, it said the window would run November 1 through December 15. On June 12, 2026, a federal court in Maryland ruled that shortening the window was arbitrary and capricious, and CMS said afterward that it hasn't changed the November 1 to January 15 dates. The government appealed that ruling on July 16, 2026. So the rule says December 15 and CMS, following the court, says January 15. Unless a court changes that, CMS's dates stand, and I'll update this page if one does.

Prices. Florida hasn't published its 2027 rates yet. The 13 Florida insurers whose 2027 filings CMS has posted proposed average changes from about 4% to about 39%, all still pending review. Nationally, KFF found a median proposed increase of 15% as of August 4, 2026. Those are proposals, not final prices. You'll see the real prices for your county on HealthCare.gov once 2027 plans are posted.

Catastrophic plans. Normally only people under 30 can buy one: a plan with a very high deductible that still covers the ten categories of care every marketplace plan must cover. In September 2025, CMS said anyone who couldn't get the credit or cost-sharing reductions because of their income, which includes everyone over 250% of the poverty line, could get a hardship exemption, an exception to the under-30 rule, and buy one. On July 16, 2026, a federal court in Maryland put on hold the rule that made that permanent, and CMS says its September 2025 guidance is on hold with it. So don't plan on one for 2027 unless a court or CMS says otherwise. I'll update this page if that happens.

Cigna. In its quarterly report for the period ending June 30, 2026, The Cigna Group says that in April 2026 it "announced its planned exit from the Individual and Family Plans medical business as of January 1, 2027." That's an announcement, not yet in effect. In Florida, Cigna's marketplace plans come from Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company and Cigna Healthcare of Florida, Inc.; the insurer's name is on your policy. If the exit goes ahead and you have one of those plans, you'll need a plan from another company for 2027. If you don't pick one, HealthCare.gov says it will re-enroll you in a plan with a different insurance company, but that's its choice of plan, not yours, so compare your doctors and prescriptions against the options yourself. The Cigna Group is a separate company from the Cigna insurance companies that issue these plans, and it isn't responsible for their financial condition or their obligations under their policies.

Who can get the credit, if you aren't a citizen. Starting with 2027 coverage, a federal law passed in July 2025 limits the credit, for people who aren't citizens, to three groups: lawful permanent residents (green card holders), people with Cuban and Haitian entrant status, and people living here under the Compacts of Free Association. Other lawfully present immigrants who get a credit in 2026 won't get one for 2027.

Congress. Nothing has been enacted, and I'm not going to predict it. If a law changes the credit, I'll update this page. Until then, plan on the rules above.

Coverage outside the marketplace

The same kind of plan, bought directly from an insurer. Over the line you get no credit either way, and you can buy an ACA plan straight from an insurer instead of through HealthCare.gov. Those plans follow the same rules: the insurer has to accept you during open enrollment or during a special enrollment period (the window that opens when you lose other coverage, marry, have a baby or move), the same windows HealthCare.gov uses, and can't exclude a condition you already have. Some Florida insurers sell plans only off the marketplace, so over the line it's worth pricing both.

Private plans priced on your health. Some people who lose the credit look at private health plans that are medically underwritten, which means the insurer looks at your health before it decides whether to cover you and at what price. For a healthy applicant that can mean a lower premium than a marketplace plan's full price. For anyone else it can mean being turned down or having a condition excluded, which an ACA plan can't do to you. The premium tax credit can't be used on them. Whether that trade is worth it depends on your health and your budget, and it isn't something to settle from a web page.

Short-term plans. Short-term plans are sold outside the marketplace, and federal rules don't count them as individual health insurance coverage. So the rules that make an insurer accept every applicant and forbid it from excluding a condition you already have don't apply to them: a short-term plan can turn you down, leave out a condition you already have, and cover less than a marketplace plan must. The premium tax credit can't be used on one.

If you have no coverage right now. Unless something has happened that opens a special enrollment period, no ACA plan, on or off the marketplace, has to take you before open enrollment, and the earliest a 2027 plan can start is January 1 if you pick it by December 15. Until then, what you can buy is limited to plans outside those rules, like the private and short-term plans above, with the limits above.

What to do before you pick a 2027 plan

Estimate your 2027 income honestly. Count everything that goes into modified adjusted gross income: wages, self-employment profit, interest, dividends, retirement withdrawals. With the repayment cap gone, guessing low costs you at tax time.

Read your renewal letters. Each fall, by November 1, you should get two letters, one from HealthCare.gov and one from your insurance company. They tell you what your plan will cost for 2027 and whether it's changing.

Check your doctors and prescriptions against the exact plan you're considering, not just the insurance company.

Pick by December 15 if you want a new plan to start January 1.

If you're in Florida and want a second set of eyes before you choose, book a 30-minute call with me. It's a phone call with me, a licensed health and life insurance broker. I'll look at what you're paying now, where your income sits against the line, and what the 2027 plans in your county cost once they're posted, and if you want, I'll help you enroll through HealthCare.gov. It's a conversation, not a quote: I can't promise a rate, a credit amount or an outcome from a phone call, and I won't.

I'm the one who calls, at the time you pick. I don't sell your information or pass it to other agents.

Common questions

Will the enhanced credits come back?

I don't know, and I won't guess. They ended December 31, 2025. The House passed a three-year extension in January 2026, and the Senate hasn't voted on it. Nothing has been signed into law. Plan on the current rules until something is.

I'm over the line for 2026. Is there any credit at all?

Not for 2026. For 2027 the line moves up to $63,840 for one person and $86,560 for two, so if your 2027 income comes in under it, you'd be eligible for a credit again.

Can I get under the line on purpose?

The figure that matters is modified adjusted gross income, and some things lower it: contributions to a health savings account, pre-tax retirement contributions and the self-employed health insurance deduction, among others. Whether any of that works for you depends on your whole return. Have a tax professional run the numbers before you count on it.

Do I have to pay the credit back?

Only the part you weren't entitled to: the difference between the advance credit paid for you and the credit your actual income supports. Starting with the 2026 tax year there's no cap on that repayment, at any income. Update your income on HealthCare.gov during the year so the advance credit is adjusted as you go.

Can I change plans before open enrollment?

Only if something happens that opens a special enrollment period, like losing other coverage, getting married, having a baby or moving. Turning 26 and aging off a parent's plan counts as losing coverage: you can pick your own plan from 60 days before that coverage ends until 60 days after, and if it's a parent's marketplace plan, you can stay on it through December 31 of the year you turn 26. You may be asked for proof that you lost coverage. The monthly window that let people under 150% of the poverty line enroll any time of year has been closed since August 2025, and a 2026 rule removed it for good.

If I leave my marketplace plan, will I lose my doctor?

You might, so check before you switch. Every plan has a network, the doctors and hospitals it has agreed prices with, and seeing a doctor outside it either costs more or isn't covered at all, depending on the plan. The same insurance company can sell plans with different networks, so look your doctors up by name in the directory for the exact plan you're considering, then call the office and ask whether they take that plan, not just that company. If it's a private plan, ask which network it uses; private plans usually call it a PPO network, and its name can differ from the insurer's. It's the network that decides whether your doctor is in.

Is a short-term plan real insurance?

It's insurance, but it isn't marketplace coverage, and it doesn't have to follow the rules marketplace plans do. It can turn you down, exclude conditions you already have and leave out benefits a marketplace plan must cover, and you can't use the premium tax credit on it. If you look at one, read what it excludes before you buy it.

When's the deadline for 2027 coverage?

Both dates matter, for different reasons. December 15, 2026 is the last day to pick a plan that starts January 1, 2027. January 15, 2027 is the last day of open enrollment on HealthCare.gov, and a plan picked after December 15 starts February 1. The January 15 close depends on a court ruling the government has appealed; unless a court changes it, it stands.

Sources

Every figure above was checked against these documents on September 24, 2026, except The Cigna Group's filing, which was read on September 23, 2026. Where something is proposed, announced, stayed or contested, the entry says so.

• Who can get the credit, the 400% line, household income and which year's poverty guidelines apply: 26 U.S.C. 36B(c)(1) (including (c)(1)(C): married couples must file a joint return), (d)(2) and (d)(3)(B), text of laws in effect on September 23, 2026 (uscode.house.gov), and 26 CFR 1.36B-1(h); IRS Instructions for Form 8962 (2025), "Household income" ("of you and your spouse (if filing a joint return)"). In effect. The 2021 to 2025 rules that removed the line and capped the share at 8.5%: 36B(b)(3)(A)(iii) and (c)(1)(E), which apply only to tax years 2021 through 2025. Expired. The benchmark plan: 36B(b)(3)(B). The credit applies only to plans bought through the marketplace, and not to catastrophic plans: 36B(b)(2)(A) and (c)(3)(A).
• Poverty guidelines: HHS, Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines, 90 FR 5917, January 17, 2025 (used for 2026 coverage), and 91 FR 1797, January 15, 2026 (used for 2027 coverage); for the 2025 figure in the first illustration, 89 FR 2961, January 17, 2024. Final. The 400% figures are four times the guideline.
• Expected share of income: for 2025, 26 U.S.C. 36B(b)(3)(A)(iii) and Table 2 of the IRS Instructions for Form 8962 (2025); for 2026, IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-25, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-32, August 4, 2025; for 2027, IRS Rev. Proc. 2026-26, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-31, July 27, 2026. Final. The first illustration's arithmetic: $55,000 is 365% of the guideline used for 2025 coverage, 351% of the one for 2026 and 344% of the one for 2027 (Form 8962 drops the decimals), and each year's table sets the share at that income.
• Congress: Senate roll call votes 643 and 644, December 11, 2025, cloture on S. 3386 and S. 3385, each "Cloture Motion Rejected (51-48, 3/5 majority required)" (senate.gov); House roll call 11, January 8, 2026, H.R. 1834 passed 230 to 196 (clerk.house.gov); H.R. 1834 on the Senate Calendar of Business for September 24, 2026, as Calendar No. 319, placed February 10, 2026. Pending. No public law through P.L. 119-111 (September 18, 2026) amends 26 U.S.C. 36B.
• Florida's marketplace figures: CMS, 2026 and 2025 Marketplace Open Enrollment Period Public Use Files, state level (published March 27, 2026 and May 5, 2025), and CMS, Marketplace effectuated enrollment, monthly data on data.cms.gov, data as of May 5, 2026, for the February counts. Final as published; CMS restates earlier months as payments come in. Florida has the most plan picks of any state in both years.
• Florida's 2026 rate changes: Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, "Individual PPACA Market Monthly Premiums for Plan Year 2026," weighted average using actual 2025 membership, table dated October 16, 2025 (floir.gov). Approved. The same table lists the insurers selling off the marketplace only, and names Cigna's two Florida insurers.
• Medicaid expansion: KFF, "Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions," August 21, 2026: Florida, not adopted. Below 100%: 26 U.S.C. 36B(c)(1)(A) (the credit starts at 100%, with a narrow exception in 26 CFR 1.36B-2(b)(6) when the marketplace estimated income at or above it); HealthCare.gov, "Medicaid expansion & what it means for you": adults below 100% in states that didn't expand "fall into a gap." Florida uses HealthCare.gov: CMS, "States by Marketplace Type (FFM/SBM-FP/SBM) for Plan Year 2027," page updated September 1, 2026.
• Cost-sharing reductions only with silver plans, and the credit on a plan at any level: HealthCare.gov glossary, "Cost sharing reduction (CSR)". What the levels mean: HealthCare.gov, "Health plan categories: Bronze, Silver, Gold, & Platinum" ("The categories have nothing to do with the quality of care you get in a plan"); bronze's lower average premium in Florida, CMS's 2026 open enrollment file by metal level ($730 bronze, $870 silver, before any credit). The 250% limit and the silver-plan rule: 45 CFR 155.305(g), eCFR as of September 22, 2026. In effect.
• County prices and deductibles: CMS, QHP Landscape files, individual market medical, 2025 and 2026 (data.healthcare.gov; 2026 data current as of August 4, 2026). Each county's benchmark is its second-lowest-cost silver plan, ranked the way CMS does, by the part of the premium that pays for essential health benefits; the prices shown are the full premiums. In effect.
• The repayment cap: Public Law 119-21, section 71305, July 4, 2025 ("shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025"); IRS, Questions and answers on the premium tax credit, FS-2025-10, December 2025, Q31; the 2025 caps from Table 5 of the IRS Instructions for Form 8962 (2025). In effect.
• Updating your income during the year: HealthCare.gov, "When your income or household changes." In effect.
• HSAs: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-19 (2026 limits, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-21, May 19, 2025) and Rev. Proc. 2026-24 (2027 limits, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-25, June 15, 2026); the $1,000 catch-up, 26 U.S.C. 223(b)(3); bronze and catastrophic plans, Public Law 119-21, section 71307, and IRS Notice 2026-5, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-2, January 5, 2026; the deduction, 26 U.S.C. 62(a)(19). In effect for 2026; the 2027 limits are final and apply from January 1, 2027.
• Retirement contributions: 26 U.S.C. 62(a)(7) and 402(e)(3). The self-employed deduction and the credit: 26 CFR 1.162(l)-1, IRS Rev. Proc. 2014-41 and IRS Publication 974 (2025). In effect; the IRS hasn't yet published 2026 versions of Publication 974 or the Form 8962 instructions.
• 2027 enrollment dates: CMS, Updated Statement regarding the Failure to File and Reconcile requirement for Plan Years 2026-2027, July 27, 2026, repeated in CMS's statements regarding City of Columbus v. Kennedy, No. 1:26-cv-02215, of July 31 and August 4, 2026; HealthCare.gov, "When can you get health insurance?", the dates and deadlines page. In effect. Automatic re-enrollment and its January 1 start: HealthCare.gov, "Automatic re-enrollment keeps you covered" and "Renew, change, update, or cancel your plan." In effect.
• The December 15 close and the court: the Marketplace Integrity and Affordability final rule, 90 FR 27074, June 25, 2025 (regulatory text at 90 FR 27222; December 15 for HealthCare.gov at 90 FR 27078); City of Columbus v. Kennedy, No. 1:25-cv-02114 (D. Md.), memorandum opinion of June 12, 2026, ECF 73, pages 38 to 40; the government's notice of appeal of July 16, 2026, as the same court reported in City of Columbus v. Kennedy, No. 1:26-cv-02215, memorandum opinion of July 16, 2026, ECF 30, page 8. Contested: on appeal.
• 2027 prices: CMS rate review, Florida individual market filings for 2027 (ratereview.healthcare.gov), read September 24, 2026, all "Pending Review." Proposed. KFF, "ACA Marketplace Insurers Are Proposing a Median Premium Increase of About 15% in 2027", August 4, 2026. Proposed. The Office of Insurance Regulation's 2027 tables weren't posted when I checked on September 24, 2026.
• Catastrophic plans: HealthCare.gov, "Catastrophic health plans"; CMS, Guidance on Hardship Exemptions for Individuals Ineligible for APTC or CSRs Due to Income, September 4, 2025; the 2027 Payment Notice, 91 FR 29526, May 20, 2026, 45 CFR 155.605(d)(1)(iv). Stayed: City of Columbus v. Kennedy, No. 1:26-cv-02215 (D. Md.), memorandum opinion of July 16, 2026, ECF 30, pages 56 to 57 and 74 to 75; CMS, Updated Statement Regarding City of Columbus v. Kennedy, August 4, 2026, which lists the catastrophic expansion "along with the related guidance issued September 4, 2025" among provisions that "didn't or won't go into effect as finalized."
• Cigna: The Cigna Group, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, filed July 30, 2026, read September 23, 2026. Announced. Re-enrollment with another insurer: 45 CFR 155.335(j)(3), eCFR as of September 22, 2026, and HealthCare.gov, "Renew, change, update, or cancel your plan." In effect.
• Who can get the credit from 2027 if you aren't a citizen: Public Law 119-21, section 71301, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2026. Enacted; takes effect with 2027.
• Buying off the marketplace: HealthCare.gov, "How to Save Money on Monthly Health Insurance Premiums" ("You can also buy a plan outside the Marketplace where you may find more options"); the accept-every-applicant and no-exclusion rules, 42 U.S.C. 300gg-1(a) and 300gg-3, laws in effect on September 23, 2026, which apply to individual coverage on or off the marketplace; 42 U.S.C. 300gg-1(b)(1): an insurer "may restrict enrollment ... to open or special enrollment periods." In effect.
• Special enrollment and turning 26: HealthCare.gov, "Getting health coverage outside Open Enrollment" and "Health Insurance Coverage For Children and Young Adults Under 26"; 45 CFR 155.420(c)(2) and (d)(1), eCFR as of September 22, 2026. The income-based window: paused by 90 FR 27074 (90 FR 27148) and removed by the 2027 Payment Notice, 91 FR 29526, effective July 20, 2026 (91 FR 29867). In effect.
• Short-term plans: 45 CFR 144.103, eCFR as of September 22, 2026; 42 U.S.C. 300gg-1(a) and 300gg-3. In effect.