The Maine Bureau of Insurance announced on Friday that it had approved a nearly 15% average rate increase for 2027 individual plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
The increase — 14.8% — was slightly lower than the 16.8% average increase proposed by insurers in June.
“The rising cost of health care is making health coverage more expensive for consumers in Maine and across the country,” Timothy Schott, acting superintendent of the Maine Bureau of Insurance, said in a statement on Friday. “While these final increases are lower than insurers initially requested, we know they will still be difficult for Maine people and small businesses.”
Nationally, rate increases for 2027 are an average of about 15% on the ACA marketplace, according to KFF, a health policy think tank.
ACA sign-ups have plummeted nationally after Congress failed to extend certain tax subsidies — called Enhanced Premium Tax Credits — that made the premiums more affordable, especially for higher-income, self-employed workers.
According to KFF, ACA enrollment has dropped by about 3 million in 2026 across the country.
Enrollment in Maine declined from about 65,000 in 2025 to 58,000 in 2026, according to the Maine bureau. State officials estimated that about 3,500 people canceled their plans because they could no longer afford their premiums. In some cases, premiums soared to thousands per month.
The enhanced credits expired at the end of 2025. Other tax credits approved when the ACA launched — called Advance Premium Tax Credits — do not expire.
Mitchell Stein, a Maine-based independent health policy analyst, said in an interview on Friday that the ACA marketplace is weaker after Congress failed to extend the enhanced credits.
“As time went on and healthcare costs continued to go up, the enhanced credits became more important to the program,” Stein said.
With fewer people enrolled this year, the ones remaining on ACA plans tend to be in need of more healthcare services, driving up the cost of plans, Stein said.
“I think it’s going to continue to get worse,” Stein said.
He said rising costs in other sectors, such as gas prices, also make it harder for people to afford health insurance premiums.
Insurers selling individual ACA plans on the Maine marketplace for 2027 include Anthem, Harvard Pilgrim and Community Health Options.
The state insurance bureau on Friday also approved a 13.5 % average premium increase for the small employer market — businesses with 50 or fewer employees — down from the 15.7% proposed by insurers.
Open enrollment on the Maine marketplace goes from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15 at coverme.gov.
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Joe Lawlor can be reached at jlawlor@pressherald.com.