Michigan health insurance rates rise 14.2% for 2027 as open enrollment opens Nov. 1: what each insurer got, and the deadlines

LANSING — Michiganders who buy their own health insurance will pay an average of 14.2% more in 2027, under rates approved by the state Department of Insurance and Financial Services, just as open enrollment begins Sunday, Nov. 1.

The increase covers about 400,000 people in the individual market, including plans sold on HealthCare.gov. Another roughly 404,000 people in small-group plans, which cover businesses with fewer than 51 employees, face an average 9.6% increase, according to the department’s rate sheet, updated Oct. 22.

DIFS notes that actual changes vary by plan, age, location and tobacco use, and that people who get federal tax credits will see different changes because of how the credit is calculated.

What the rate sheet shows

A review of the DIFS filing table shows regulators barely moved the numbers. Insurers asked for an average 14.4% in the individual market and got 14.2%. The department approved 18 filings, issued 944 objections and denied none, it reported.

Increases split sharply by insurer. The two carriers with the most individual-market customers came in lowest: Priority Health, with 138,048 enrollees, at 11.2%, and Blue Care Network of Michigan, with 113,640, at 11.9%. Oscar was approved for 11.9%, Health Alliance Plan for 12.6%, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan for 12.8%, Alliance Health and Life for 14.1% and McLaren Health Plan Community for 15.7%.

At the top were UnitedHealthcare Community Plan at 25.2%, covering 64,495 people, Meridian Health Plan of Michigan at 24.0% and Molina Healthcare of Michigan at 22.4% for a single plan sold off the marketplace. In all, 53 of the 201 individual plans carry increases of 15% or more, the level that triggers extra review and disclosure.

For small employers, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan was approved for 7.0% and Blue Care Network for 10.7%, while two UnitedHealthcare companies were approved for about 14.5% to 14.8%.

Fewer buyers, fewer carriers

Bridge Michigan reported that individual-market enrollment fell by more than 130,000 people in a year, and that Michigan’s 27% drop in marketplace sign-ups was more than double the national decline of 12%. Seven companies will sell plans on HealthCare.gov in Michigan next year, down from 15 in 2016, Bridge found, though the number of marketplace plans rises to 143 from 116.

The University of Michigan’s Center for Health and Research Transformation tied the trend to the expiration of enhanced federal premium subsidies last year, federal rule changes and provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to Bridge. Leaders of the Small Business Association of Michigan, after surveying local companies, said many employers rank health costs as a top priority for the next governor and Legislature, Bridge reported. “The affordability crisis is here, and it’s real,” Bret Jackson, president of the Economic Alliance of Michigan, told Bridge.

Deadlines

Open enrollment on HealthCare.gov runs Nov. 1 through Jan. 15. Sign up or switch by Dec. 15 for coverage that starts Jan. 1; plans picked Dec. 16 through Jan. 15 start Feb. 1. With increases this uneven, shoppers who let a plan renew automatically could miss a cheaper option from another carrier.

Sources:
Michigan DIFS, “2027 Michigan Health Insurance Rate Change Requests,” individual and small group markets, approved (updated Oct. 22, 2026), https://www.michigan.gov/difs/-/media/Project/Websites/difs/OIRF/EHB/PDFs/2027_Approved_Rate_Changes.pdf
Bridge Michigan, “Costs surge again for Michigan health insurance plans” (Oct. 29, 2026), https://bridgemi.com/michigan-health-watch/costs-surge-again-for-michigan-health-insurance-plans/
HealthCare.gov, Dates and deadlines for 2027 open enrollment, https://www.healthcare.gov/quick-guide/dates-and-deadlines/
Photo: Doctors Examine Teenager, Rhoda Baer, National Cancer Institute, Wikimedia Commons (public domain), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Doctors_examine_teenager.jpg

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Tags: Health insurance · Affordable Care Act · Open enrollment · DIFS · Small business · Michigan