Buying Your Own Health Insurance? Texas Open Enrollment Starts Nov. 1. Here Is What Changes for 2027

If you are self-employed, run a small farm, work for a small business without coverage or are between jobs, the next few weeks matter for your family budget.

Open enrollment for 2027 health coverage through the federal Marketplace starts Nov. 1, according to HealthCare.gov. Texas does not run its own exchange, so Texans who buy their own insurance enroll through HealthCare.gov.

Texas leans on this market more than most. Nearly 4.2 million Texans selected a Marketplace plan during open enrollment for 2026, according to a Texas guide from healthinsurance.org that draws on federal data.

The dates

According to HealthCare.gov:

• Nov. 1: Open enrollment starts. You can enroll, renew or change plans.

• Dec. 15: Last day to pick a plan for coverage that starts Jan. 1.

• Jan. 15: Open enrollment ends.

• Feb. 1: Coverage starts for those who enroll Dec. 16 through Jan. 15 and pay the first premium.

After Jan. 15, you can enroll or change plans only if you have a qualifying life event, such as moving, losing other coverage, getting married or having a baby. Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program take applications year-round.

Healthinsurance.org notes that a federal rule that would have shortened open enrollment was vacated by a judge and is not taking effect this fall.

Two insurers are leaving

Texas will have 15 Marketplace insurers for 2027, down from 16. Cigna and Baylor Scott & White are leaving the Marketplace at the end of 2026, according to healthinsurance.org. If you have a plan with either one, you will need to pick new coverage during open enrollment.

Coverage areas differ from one insurer to another. The guide says several north-central Texas counties have only one insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas.

Prices are going up

Insurers proposed an average increase of about 13.1 percent for 2027 before subsidies, healthinsurance.org reports. Proposed increases range from 1.3 percent for one insurer to 31.1 percent for another.

Subsidies already shrank this year. The enhanced federal premium subsidies expired at the end of 2025. Average net premiums in the Texas Marketplace rose from about $57 a month in 2025 to about $89 in 2026, the guide says. The so-called subsidy cliff is back, so households earning more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level get no subsidy at all.

Even so, subsidies still carry most of the load. Almost 92 percent of Texas enrollees received a subsidy for 2026, and it averaged $667 a month.

Some families felt the squeeze. Fewer than 3.3 million Texans had paid-up Marketplace coverage in February 2026, down from more than 3.4 million a year earlier, according to the guide.

A Texas quirk worth knowing: look at Gold

Texas requires insurers to add an extra charge to Silver plans to cover the cost of reductions in out-of-pocket costs. That charge rose to 40 percent for 2026. Because subsidies are tied to Silver prices, the result is that Gold plans are often priced lower than Silver plans in Texas, healthinsurance.org explains.

That changed how Texans shopped. Gold plans made up 41 percent of Texas plan selections for 2026, up from 35 percent. Bronze plans rose to 31 percent from 18 percent.

One caution: if your household income is up to 250 percent of the poverty level, you may qualify for cost-sharing reductions that lower deductibles and copays, but only on a Silver plan. About 26 percent of Texas enrollees picked plans with those benefits for 2026.

What to do before Dec. 15

• Do not let the plan roll over without looking. Prices, networks and subsidies change every year.

• Update your income estimate for 2027. Your subsidy depends on it.

• Check that your doctors, hospital and prescriptions are covered by name.

• Compare Gold and Bronze, not just Silver.

• If you are with Cigna or Baylor Scott & White, choose a new plan.

HealthCare.gov’s call center is 1-800-318-2596 and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except holidays.

Texas has not expanded Medicaid, and healthinsurance.org estimates about 605,000 Texans fall in the coverage gap, earning too little for Marketplace subsidies but not qualifying for Medicaid. If that is you, ask about charity care at local clinics and hospitals.

If a parent is on Medicare, that is a separate deadline. Our Medicare open enrollment guide covers it.

Health coverage is part of providing for a household. Scripture says that anyone who does not provide for his own household has denied the faith (1 Timothy 5:8). A careful hour with the numbers this fall is part of that work.