By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Many Affordable Care Act Marketplace providers in Arizona are proposing a sizeable rate increase for 2027, a change that could affect hundreds of thousands of Arizonans who currently get their health insurance through the marketplace.
Read more Crews respond to early morning garage fire in Marana
Data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows that 357,144 people in Arizona selected health insurance through the ACA Marketplace for 2026. That was down from 423,025 in 2025.
The drop of nearly 66,000 people came as premiums rose sharply for many enrollees.
Adena Hope Bank, a self-employed clinical social worker in Pima County, gets her health insurance through the ACA marketplace. She said it is her only option and has grown more expensive over the years.
“For this year of 2026, I’ve been paying, it’s not exactly $1,100. It’s $1,089 and change,” Bank said.
Bank, who lives with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, said the rising healthcare costs over recent years have already changed how she manages her care.
“I’ll be very honest. I eat less,” she said. “I’m furious and I’m terrified because already I am staying away from doctors as much as I can.”
Enrollment drop feeding higher proposed rates
Natasha Murphy, Director of Health Policy at the Center for American Progress, says the proposed increases were not a surprise given how many people have dropped coverage and the legislative environment.
“The unfortunate reality is that the increase in those prices and the subsequent drop in enrollment and coverage is unfortunately feeding into some of the high rates that we are seeing proposed for 2027,” Murphy said.
Read more How to protect your electronics during a monsoon storm
In Arizona, here are the requested rate changes that were published on ratereview.healthcare.gov:
| Antidote Health Plan of Arizona | 3.26% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona | 29.59% |
| Health Net Community Solutions of Arizona | 27.96% |
| Arizona Complete Health | 24.55% |
| Imperial Insurance Companies | 30.08% |
| Oscar Health Plan | 33.90% |
| UnitedHealthcare of Arizona | 28.63% |
Murphy said many of these providers cited the fact that the risk pool has gotten sicker as justification for the proposed increases, but the impacts of more people opting to dump health insurance go beyond just rising premiums.
“It has implications for providers and our hospitals and health systems as individuals lose coverage. When they do seek care, oftentimes it’s at the emergency room and hospitals find themselves having significantly higher uncompensated care costs. And that, particularly in rural areas, can result in hospital closures, service line disruption,” Murphy said.
Bank said a further increase could push her off the marketplace entirely.
“If it goes up another $200 a month, then I am, let’s say, $1,300. I’ll either go off the marketplace, you know, I will figure out something,” Bank said.
The rates are proposed figures. Federal and state regulators will review them and could make changes before new premiums are finalized and open enrollment begins on Nov. 1.
The public is also encouraged to submit their comments on the requested rate changes; that can be done by clicking/tapping here.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Read more Monsoon storms leave trail of destruction at Buckeye family ranch