If your Florida health plan is being discontinued for 2027, you are not losing the right to coverage. Your insurer must notify you at least 90 days before the plan ends, the Marketplace will automatically move you to a replacement plan if you do nothing, and you get a special enrollment period because of the discontinuation. To keep coverage with no gap on January 1, 2027, pick a plan by December 15, 2026.
Several insurers are leaving Florida’s individual market for the 2027 plan year. If you are one of the people affected, the letter is not a mistake and it is not a cancellation for non-payment. It is a product discontinuation, and it comes with a specific set of rights and a specific set of deadlines. The deadlines are the part people miss.
What does a plan discontinuation notice look like, and when does it arrive?
Federal law requires the notice. Under 45 CFR 147.106(c), an insurer discontinuing a particular product in the individual market must notify each enrollee at least 90 calendar days before the coverage is discontinued, and must offer the option to buy any other coverage that insurer currently sells, on a guaranteed availability basis. For a plan ending on December 31, 2026, that means the notice should reach you on or before October 2, 2026.
If an insurer is leaving the individual market in Florida entirely rather than retiring one product, the standard is stricter: 45 CFR 147.106(d) requires at least 180 calendar days of notice, which for a December 31, 2026 exit means on or before July 4, 2026. That rule also bars the insurer from re-entering that Florida market for five years.
The letter usually says some combination of: your plan will not be offered in 2027, your coverage ends December 31, 2026, here is what we are offering instead, and here is your right to shop. Read the date the coverage ends, read whether the insurer is discontinuing one plan or leaving the state, and keep the letter. It is your proof of a qualifying event if you need to enroll after open enrollment closes.
What is a crosswalk, and why is the replacement plan rarely the best fit?
If your plan disappears and you take no action, you are not dropped. The Marketplace re-enrolls you in something. HealthCare.gov states plainly that if your insurance company stops offering plans, the Marketplace will re-enroll you in a plan with a different insurance company (HealthCare.gov, 2026). That automatic match is what the industry calls a crosswalk.
A crosswalk is designed to prevent people from becoming uninsured. It is not designed to find you the best plan, and it cannot be, because it does not know anything about you beyond your current plan’s metal level and your enrollment record. It does not know:
- Which doctors you actually see, or whether they are in the new plan’s network
- Which prescriptions you take, or where they sit on the new plan’s formulary
- Whether your income estimate has changed since last year
- Whether a different metal level now makes more sense for you given how much care you used
- Whether the new plan’s deductible resets everything you already paid down this year
That last point catches people badly. Moving to a different insurer on 1 January means starting the new deductible and out-of-pocket maximum at zero, which is normal for a January change but genuinely painful if you were mid-treatment. The crosswalk also cannot fix a stale income estimate, and a stale estimate is the single most common cause of an unpleasant surprise at tax time. Our note on whether to let an ACA plan auto-renew goes through that in more detail.
Treat the crosswalk as a safety net, not a recommendation.
Does a discontinued plan give me a special enrollment period?
Yes. HealthCare.gov lists “your individual plan or your Marketplace plan is discontinued” as a qualifying loss of coverage (HealthCare.gov, 2026). The window runs 60 days before the loss and 60 days after it.
For a plan ending December 31, 2026, that puts the special enrollment window at roughly November 1, 2026 through March 1, 2027.
Two things to understand about that window. First, it overlaps open enrollment almost entirely, so for most people it is a backstop rather than the main route. Second, and more importantly, a special enrollment period lets you enroll late, but it does not make your coverage retroactive. Enrolling on 20 January does not cover a hospital visit on 8 January. The special enrollment period protects you from being locked out for a year. It does not protect you from a gap. More on how these windows work in our guide to the Florida ACA special enrollment period.
What is the step-by-step sequence and what are the deadlines?
This is the part to act on. Dates are for Florida, which uses the federal exchange at HealthCare.gov.
| Date | What happens or what you do |
|---|---|
| On or before July 4, 2026 | Deadline for notice if your insurer is leaving Florida’s individual market entirely (180 days, 45 CFR 147.106(d)) |
| On or before October 2, 2026 | Deadline for notice if a specific plan is being discontinued (90 days, 45 CFR 147.106(c)). If you have not received a letter by early October and you expect one, call your insurer and ask. |
| Early to mid October 2026 | Read the notice. Confirm the coverage end date and whether one plan or the whole market is affected. List your doctors, your prescriptions and your expected 2027 income before shopping. |
| November 1, 2026 | Open enrollment for 2027 coverage opens. Your 60-day pre-loss special enrollment window also opens. Log in and update your income estimate and household before you look at plans, because the estimate drives the subsidy. |
| Early November to mid December 2026 | Compare plans actively. Check each plan’s provider directory for your own doctors and its formulary for your own drugs. Do not rely on the metal level alone. |
| December 15, 2026 | Deadline to select a plan for coverage effective January 1, 2027 (HealthCare.gov, 2026). This is the date that matters most. Miss it and you will have a gap, even though you can still enroll. |
| Late December 2026 | Pay the first premium. Selecting a plan is not the same as being enrolled. Coverage is not effective until the first payment is made, so do not leave this to the last day. |
| December 31, 2026 | Your discontinued plan ends. |
| January 1, 2027 | New coverage begins. Deductible and out-of-pocket maximum reset to zero. |
| January 15, 2027 | Open enrollment closes. A plan chosen between 16 December and 15 January generally starts 1 February, leaving a January gap. |
| Around March 1, 2027 | Your 60-day post-loss special enrollment window closes. After this, you generally need a different qualifying event to enroll. |
Open enrollment dates for 2027 have been subject to rulemaking and litigation, so confirm the current dates at HealthCare.gov before you rely on them. The 15 December date for 1 January coverage is the one to protect. Our Florida ACA open enrollment 2027 deadlines page tracks any changes.
How much are Florida premiums changing for 2027?
Preliminary filings point to significant increases, but the honest answer is that no one can give you a single reliable statewide number, and you should be skeptical of anyone who does.
The figure most widely quoted is a 15.3% average increase for Florida’s individual market for 2027. That number is an unweighted average of preliminary rate filings compiled by ACASignups from the federal Rate Review database (ACASignups, August 28, 2026). Three caveats matter:
- It is unweighted, meaning every insurer counts equally regardless of how many Florida members it has. A weighted average could be meaningfully different. The compiler notes that a weighted average is not possible because Florida carriers’ actuarial memos are redacted as trade secrets.
- Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation does not certify a statewide average rate increase. There is no official state number to cite.
- Carrier-level increases range very widely, from roughly 3.9% to 39.1% in those preliminary filings. The average tells you almost nothing about what will happen to your specific plan.
These are also preliminary filings. Filed rates are reviewed and can change before they are final. The only number that matters to you is the premium quoted for the specific plan you are considering, at your age, in your county, after your subsidy is applied.
What happens if I just do nothing?
You will most likely end up enrolled in a crosswalked plan from a different insurer on January 1, 2027, at whatever premium and subsidy the system calculates from last year’s information. You will not be uninsured, which is the good news. But you may be in a plan your doctors do not take, with a formulary that does not cover your prescriptions, and with a subsidy based on an income estimate you have not looked at in a year.
The cost of spending forty minutes in November is usually a great deal lower than the cost of finding out in February.
Frequently asked questions
Can my insurer do this? Is it legal to discontinue my plan?
Yes, provided they follow the rules. Guaranteed renewability under 45 CFR 147.106 does not mean a plan must exist forever. It means the insurer cannot single you out, must discontinue the product uniformly, and must give the required advance notice, 90 days for a product and 180 days for exiting a market.
Does a discontinued plan mean I did something wrong?
No. A discontinuation applies to everyone in that product. It is unrelated to your claims, your health or your payment history.
Will I keep my subsidy if I switch plans?
Your premium tax credit follows you, not the plan, and it is based on your household income, family size and the benchmark plan in your area. Switching insurers does not by itself cost you the credit. Update your income estimate when you enroll so the amount is right.
What if I miss December 15, 2026?
You can still enroll through January 15, 2027 during open enrollment, and potentially until around March 1, 2027 under the special enrollment period triggered by the discontinuation. Coverage will generally start the first of the following month, so you would have a gap. Enrolling late is much better than not enrolling, but the gap is real and not retroactive.
Do I have to take the replacement plan my insurer offers me?
No. If your insurer is discontinuing one product but staying in Florida, it must offer you its other available coverage, but you are free to shop the entire Marketplace instead. Compare before accepting.
My deductible is almost met this year. Does that carry over?
No. Deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums reset on 1 January with a new plan year, and moving to a new insurer certainly resets them. If you are in the middle of a course of treatment, factor that into which 2027 plan you choose and consider whether finishing treatment in 2026 is possible.
How do I check whether my doctor is in the new plan’s network?
Use the plan’s own provider directory, then call the doctor’s office and ask whether they are contracted with that specific plan for 2027, not just with that insurer. Networks vary by plan within the same company, and directories are frequently out of date. The phone call is worth it.
Is a cheaper premium the right way to choose a replacement?
Not on its own. Compare the total of premium plus deductible plus expected out-of-pocket costs for the care you actually use, and confirm the network and formulary first. A low premium on a plan that does not cover your specialist is not a saving.
If you want a second opinion on the replacement
If you received a discontinuation notice and want help comparing what is actually available to you in your county, we are glad to walk through it. There is no cost and no obligation, and we will tell you if the crosswalked plan is genuinely the right one. Call (954) 834-5433.
Lifeworth Insurance Agency, NPN 21228343, is a trade name of Lifeworth Financial Group LLC, licensed in Florida for life, health and annuity products. This article is general information, not tax, legal or individualized insurance advice.