How Much You’ll Pay for ACA Coverage in 2027, by Income and Family Size

At $40,000 of income, a single adult buying ACA coverage for 2027 is expected to put $3,464 toward the benchmark silver plan for the year, about $289 a month, and the premium tax credit pays whatever that plan costs beyond it. A four-person household at $90,000 owes $8,415 toward its benchmark. Both households paid far less for the same coverage under the 2025 rules, before the enhanced credits expired.

ACA open enrollment for 2027 coverage on HealthCare.gov runs from November 1, 2026 through January 15, 2027. The HealthCare.gov dates and deadlines page lists December 15 as the last day to pick a plan that starts January 1. If you sign up between December 16 and January 15, coverage starts February 1, once the first premium is paid. States that run their own exchanges set their own deadlines, so check your state’s site if it doesn’t send you to HealthCare.gov.

How the 2027 premium tax credit is figured

The Marketplace looks up the second-lowest-cost silver plan available to your household in your county, which is called the benchmark, and subtracts an expected contribution based on your income. Your credit is the difference. You can use it on any metal level, and it doesn’t change with the plan you choose, so a cheaper plan lowers what you pay and a gold plan raises it.

The expected contribution is a percentage of household income, and the percentage rises with income. Rev. Proc. 2026-26, released in July 2026, sets it for 2027. Below 133% of the federal poverty level it’s 2.15%. It reaches 4.3% at 150%, 6.78% at 200%, 8.66% at 250% and 10.22% at 300%, then stays flat at 10.22% up to 400%. Between those points the percentage rises in a straight line, so someone at 175% sits halfway between 4.3% and 6.78%.

Coverage for 2027 is measured against the 2026 HHS poverty guidelines: $15,960 for one person and $33,000 for a family of four in the 48 contiguous states and D.C. Alaska and Hawaii have higher guidelines. Four times those figures gives the 2027 ceilings of $63,840 and $132,000.

What a single adult pays at five incomes

I ran the IRS percentages for a household of one. At $24,000, which is 150% of the line, the expected contribution is $1,032 for the year. At $32,000 it’s $2,170, at $40,000 it’s $3,464, and at $55,000 it’s $5,621. A single person right at $63,840 is expected to pay $6,524, or 10.22% of income.

Those are contributions, not premiums. Say a 50 year old earning $40,000 lives where the benchmark plan costs $650 a month, or $7,800 a year. Her credit is $7,800 minus $3,464, which comes to $4,336, about $361 a month. If she picks the benchmark she pays $289 a month. A bronze plan priced at $480 a month would cost her about $119 after the same credit, with a much higher deductible.

The table starts at $24,000 for a reason. In states that expanded Medicaid, adults below about 138% of poverty, roughly $22,025 for one person, are generally sent to Medicaid rather than the credit.

Did the enhanced premium tax credits end?

Yes, after 2025. The IRS explains in fact sheet FS-2025-10 that Congress temporarily dropped the 400% limit for tax years 2021 through 2025, and the same law cut the percentages at every income level. The 2025 Form 8962 instructions show how low they went: 0% of income at or below 150% of poverty, 2% at 200%, 4% at 250%, 6% at 300%, and 8.5% at 400% and above, with no upper income limit at all.

For 2026 the original rules came back with indexed percentages, and the 2027 table continues them. The table the IRS published in July 2026 stops at 400%, and HealthCare.gov estimates 2027 savings from it.

A family of four under 2025 rules and 2027 rules

The second table holds income fixed and changes only the rules. For the 2025 column I used the 2025 percentages with the 2024 poverty line of $31,200 for four, which is what Form 8962 used that year. The 2027 column uses $33,000. At $50,000 the family’s expected contribution was $200 for all of 2025. For 2027 it’s $2,175. At $66,000, exactly 200% of the new line, the family goes from $1,610 to $4,475.

The biggest increase in my table falls in the middle. A family at $90,000 now puts $8,415 toward the benchmark for 2027, up $3,447 from $4,968. At $120,000 the jump is $2,544, smaller because the 2025 share there was already 8.1%.

At $133,000 the comparison stops working. Under the 2025 rules this family’s share was capped at 8.5% of income, or $11,305. For 2027 they’re $1,000 over the $132,000 ceiling, they get no credit, and they pay the full price of whatever plan they choose. For parents in their late fifties in a high-cost county, the gap between a capped share and the full premium can be larger than any figure in the table.

The 2027 ceiling moved up a little

The 400% line follows the poverty guidelines, which HHS raised in January 2026. For 2026 coverage it was $62,600 for one person and $128,600 for four people, based on the 2025 guidelines. For 2027 it’s $63,840 and $132,000. A single person with $63,000 of income got no credit for 2026 and can get one for 2027, at 394% of the line. Four people with $130,000 are in the same spot, shut out for 2026 and at 393% for 2027, where the expected contribution is $13,286 a year.

The percentages crept up too. Between 300% and 400% of the line the share is 10.22% for 2027, against 9.96% for 2026. On $55,000 of income, that difference adds $143 to a single person’s yearly contribution.

Guessing your 2027 income in November

Advance payments are based on the income you expect for 2027, and Form 8962 settles up on the 2027 return you file in 2028. FS-2025-10 says there is no repayment cap for tax years after 2025, so any excess advance credit is added to your tax in full. A household that expected 395% of poverty and ends the year at 401% repays every dollar of credit sent to its insurer.

Modified AGI for this credit includes Social Security benefits that aren’t taxed, along with tax-exempt interest, so retirees who aren’t yet on Medicare often count less income than the Marketplace will. A four-person household that projects $131,000 qualifies. If a bonus pushes the year to $133,000, the whole credit goes back. A deductible contribution to a traditional IRA or a health savings account lowers modified AGI and can bring a household back under the line, and taking only part of the credit in advance limits the size of any bill in April 2028.

Immigration status is another test starting in 2027. Proposed regulations announced in IR-2026-121 on October 14, 2026 would limit the credit to U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals and certain lawfully present noncitizens, and would add verification steps before advance payments are made.

Four steps before December 15

1. Estimate 2027 household income for everyone who has to file, counting wages, self-employment, retirement withdrawals and all Social Security benefits.
2. Divide it by the 2026 poverty guideline for your household size and find your share in the 2027 percentages.
3. Log in to HealthCare.gov, compare the benchmark price with your expected contribution, and price the plan you actually want.
4. Choose a plan by December 15 for January 1 coverage, and report income changes during 2027 so the advance credit can be adjusted.

Related reading

• Who Qualifies for the ACA Premium Tax Credit in 2027?
• Government Money Programs for Low-Income Households
• Benefits You Can Claim When You’re Unemployed With No Income

Benchmark prices differ by county, age and household, and the contributions above use the IRS’s 2027 percentages with the poverty guidelines for the 48 contiguous states, so plan around the savings your own HealthCare.gov or state exchange application shows for 2027.