For four years, ACA Marketplace coverage was cheaper than it had ever been. That period ended at midnight on December 31, 2025, and 2026 was the first year most enrollees felt it.
This page covers what specifically expired, what the rules are now, what the change has cost real households, where the extension bills stand, and what a person facing a premium they cannot pay can actually do about it. Every figure was verified on September 6, 2026 against the agency or research organization that published it.
What Expired, Precisely
Two temporary changes to the premium tax credit under Internal Revenue Code section 36B ran from 2021 through 2025. The American Rescue Plan Act created them and the Inflation Reduction Act extended them.
The first lowered the share of income you were expected to contribute at every income level. A household at 150% of the federal poverty line paid nothing for the benchmark silver plan instead of roughly 4% of income.
The second removed the eligibility ceiling. Anyone above 400% of poverty could still get a credit, capped so that the benchmark plan cost no more than 8.5% of household income.
Both lapsed on December 31, 2025. HealthCare.gov now states on its own premium savings page that “the additional savings available because of the COVID pandemic ended on December 31, 2025,” and warns that people who qualify for savings in 2026 “will likely pay more.”
The ordinary premium tax credit did not disappear. Neither did cost-sharing reductions, which still cut deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums for silver-plan enrollees up to 250% of poverty. What went away was the extra layer stacked on top.
The IRS Made It Official Twice
The clearest proof that nothing was extended sits in two IRS revenue procedures.
Rev. Proc. 2025-25 set the 2026 applicable percentage table. Rev. Proc. 2026-26 set the 2027 table. Both end at the same bracket, “at least 300% but not more than 400%,” which is the pre-2021 structure. If the enhancements were live, the tables would run past 400% and the top rate would be 8.5%.
| Household income (% of federal poverty line) | 2026 rate | 2027 rate |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 133% | 2.10% | 2.15% |
| At least 133% but less than 150% | 3.14% to 4.19% | 3.23% to 4.30% |
| At least 150% but less than 200% | 4.19% to 6.60% | 4.30% to 6.78% |
| At least 200% but less than 250% | 6.60% to 8.44% | 6.78% to 8.66% |
| At least 250% but less than 300% | 8.44% to 9.96% | 8.66% to 10.22% |
| At least 300% but not more than 400% | 9.96% | 10.22% |
| Above 400% | No credit | No credit |
The 2027 figure of 10.22% is the highest required contribution percentage in the ACA’s history, up from 9.96% in 2026. Rev. Proc. 2026-26 also sets 10.22% as the Required Contribution Percentage used to decide whether an employer’s offer of coverage counts as affordable.
The Cliff, With Real Numbers
Using HHS’s 2026 poverty guidelines (the ones that govern 2027 coverage), 400% of poverty is $63,840 for one person and $132,000 for a family of four in the 48 contiguous states.
Here is what the cliff does. Take a 40-year-old buying 2026 coverage. KFF puts the national average benchmark silver premium at $625 a month for 2026 and states that the poverty level used for 2026 coverage is $15,650 for a single adult, which puts 400% of poverty at $62,600.
- At $62,600 of income (exactly 400% FPL): your expected contribution is 9.96% of income, or $6,235 a year. The benchmark plan costs $7,500 a year. You get a credit of about $1,265, so you pay roughly $520 a month.
- At $62,700 of income (just over 400% FPL): you get nothing. You pay the full $625 a month, or $7,500 a year.
One hundred dollars of extra income costs that person about $1,265. That is the cliff at national-average prices.
Now run the same person in a high-premium state. KFF’s 2026 data puts the average benchmark premium at $1,090 a month in Wyoming and $1,299 in Vermont. The Wyoming version of that household pays about $520 a month at 400% of poverty and $1,090 a month one dollar above it, a swing of roughly $6,845 a year. In Vermont the gap is over $9,300.
The cliff also scales with age, because Marketplace premiums are age-rated and older enrollees face far higher sticker prices. A couple in their early sixties sitting just over the line has the largest exposure of anyone in the market, and that is exactly the group the enrollment data shows leaving.
What It Has Actually Cost People
KFF published the most complete accounting on May 19, 2026, drawing on CMS Marketplace open enrollment public use files, state marketplace reports and effectuated enrollment data.
- Average monthly premium payments rose 58%, from $113 in 2025 to $178 in 2026, measured across all consumers including those who never received a credit.
- Sign-ups in the 400% to 500% FPL band fell 44%, a drop of more than 321,000 people. That group was only 3% of 2025 sign-ups but accounted for 27% of the total decline.
- Average deductibles hit a record $3,786, up 37% or $1,027 per person, the steepest single-year increase this market has seen. KFF attributes it mostly to enrollees moving out of silver plans, where cost-sharing reductions live, and into bronze plans.
- The share of enrollees receiving any premium tax credit fell from 92% to 87%, the first decline since 2020.
- Total plan selections fell to 23.1 million, the sharpest single-year drop since the Marketplaces launched, with effectuated enrollment projected to land near 17.5 million.
Note the tradeoff buried in that data. The 58% increase is smaller than the 114% KFF had projected, partly because people bought cheaper, thinner plans and partly because the households facing the biggest increases simply left. A smaller premium increase that arrives with a $1,000 larger deductible is not a smaller cost.
Where the Extension Stands
H.R. 1834 would have extended the enhanced credits for three years. The engrossed text amends IRC 36B(b)(3)(A)(iii) and 36B(c)(1)(E) by striking “before January 1, 2026” and inserting “before January 1, 2029,” with the changes applying to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.
It passed the House of Representatives on January 8, 2026. As of September 6, 2026, Congress.gov lists its status as “Passed House,” with its most recent action in the Senate on February 10, 2026. The only published text is the version the House passed, so no enrolled bill exists and nothing has been signed into law.
Treat this the way you would any pending bill. Until something is enacted, plan your 2027 budget on the rules that are in force, which are the ones in Rev. Proc. 2026-26.
What You Can Actually Do
Check whether your state built its own backstop. Several state marketplaces added state-funded assistance in direct response to the expiration. Rhode Island’s new Marketplace Affordability Program starts in January 2027 and explicitly covers some households over 400% of poverty. New Mexico’s state program is credited by KFF with an 18% increase in sign-ups while 41 states fell. If you live in a state-run marketplace, look before assuming the federal cliff is your ceiling.
Manage the income line if you legitimately can. Because eligibility is a cliff and not a slope, deductible contributions to a traditional IRA, a self-employed retirement plan or an HSA reduce modified adjusted gross income and can move a household from just over the line to just under it. This is a tax-planning question, not a healthcare one, and it is worth an hour with a preparer before December. The mechanics of how the credit is paid and reconciled are covered in advance premium tax credit and Form 8962, and the exact thresholds are in ACA subsidy income limits.
Look at bronze and catastrophic before you go bare. A bronze plan still carries an out-of-pocket maximum, still covers the ten essential health benefits and still covers preventive care at no cost. Catastrophic plans are cheaper still, but HealthCare.gov limits them to people under 30 and to those who qualify for a hardship or affordability exemption. Be aware the eligibility expansion CMS finalized for 2027 was stayed by a federal court on July 16, 2026, per CMS’s August 4, 2026 statement, so do not count on wider catastrophic access next year. Our catastrophic health insurance guide walks through the exemption route.
Understand the tradeoff before choosing an unregulated product. Short-term health insurance and health sharing ministries are cheaper because they can exclude pre-existing conditions, cap payouts and, in the case of sharing ministries, decline to pay at all without recourse. They are not insurance in the legal sense. For some people they are still the right call. Read what you are giving up first.
Build a cash-pay plan for the gap. If you end up uninsured or on a plan with a $7,000 deductible, the price you pay is negotiable far more often than people realize. Start with self-pay vs. health insurance and our fair price tool, then use hospital charity care, prescription assistance programs and medical bill negotiation as the situation demands.
The Bottom Line
The enhanced credits are gone, the 400% cliff is back, and the required contribution rises again to 10.22% for 2027. That is the law as it stands on September 6, 2026, and the House-passed extension has not moved since February.
Shop anyway. Most Marketplace enrollees still qualify for a credit, silver plans still carry cost-sharing reductions under 250% of poverty, and some states have layered their own money on top. Check your dates in when is open enrollment and price the actual plans before you conclude you cannot afford coverage.