Premiums roughly doubled for subsidized households, the 400% income cliff is back, and a lot of last year's advice is now wrong. Here is what actually changed, with sources.
The short answer
The enhanced ACA premium tax credits expired on December 31, 2025. For 2026, credits apply only between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, every income band pays a larger share of income than last year, and households above 400% get no credit at all. Cost-sharing reductions on Silver plans did not change, and Florida's coverage gap below 100% of the poverty level remains.
The rules reset on January 1.
From 2021 through 2025, temporary federal law made marketplace subsidies bigger and stretched them to households above the usual income limits. That law expired on December 31, 2025. Congress did not extend it, so 2026 plans run on the original formula from the Affordable Care Act.
The result landed in renewal letters across the country: the average subsidized household's premium payment roughly doubled. Nothing about your plan necessarily changed. What changed is how much of the bill the tax credit covers.
If you searched for answers and found pages saying the bigger credits are still in effect, you found content written before the expiration. It was true when it was written. It is not true now.
The share of income the formula expects from you.
Both lines show the percentage of household income the federal formula expects a household to pay toward the benchmark Silver plan, by income as a percent of the federal poverty level. Illustrative of the formula, not a quote.
Above 400% of the poverty level, the 2026 line does not rise. It ends. No credit at any income above the line.
The cliff, step by step.
Inside the range, a sliding scale
Between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, the expected share of your income slides from 2.1% at the bottom to 9.96% at the top. The tax credit covers the gap between that share and the benchmark plan's price in your area.
At the line, a hard stop
The 400% cutoff is not a phase-out. It is a cliff. At 400% of the poverty level a household still gets a credit. Above it, none.
One dollar can matter
Illustrative example: for a family of four in 2026, 400% of the poverty level is $128,600 of household income. At that number the credit formula applies. At $128,601 it does not. Estimating your annual income carefully and honestly has never mattered more.
The scale of the change.
average rise in subsidized households' premium payments for 2026
marketplace enrollees in 2026, down from about 22.3M in 2025
Floridians with marketplace coverage, roughly 1 in 5 of all US enrollees
KFF analyses of CMS marketplace data, 2025-2026
The Florida floor: the coverage gap.
Credits do not just stop at the top. They also start at 100% of the federal poverty level, and Florida did not expand Medicaid. An adult below that line often qualifies for neither a marketplace credit nor Medicaid. That hole is called the coverage gap, and Florida has one of the largest in the country.
Three things are still true inside the gap: children in the household may qualify for Medicaid or Florida KidCare on their own. Credits are based on your estimated income for the whole coverage year, so a year you expect to reach the poverty level changes the answer. And community health centers charge on a sliding scale regardless of coverage. Healthcare.gov makes the official eligibility call.
Where 2026 advice goes wrong.
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Our free subsidy estimator takes your household size and estimated 2026 income, and shows where you land under the current formula. No name, no phone, no contact info to use it.
Questions people ask
- Why did my marketplace premium double for 2026?
- The enhanced premium tax credits that lowered payments from 2021 through 2025 expired on December 31, 2025. Your plan's sticker price also rose, but the bigger driver for most households is that the credit now covers less. KFF estimates the average subsidized enrollee's own payment roughly doubled for 2026.
- Do ACA subsidies still exist in 2026?
- Yes. Premium tax credits still apply for household incomes between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level. What expired is the enhancement that made credits bigger and extended them above 400%. Inside the range, the expected share of income now runs from 2.1% to 9.96%.
- What is the ACA subsidy cliff?
- For 2026, a household above 400% of the federal poverty level gets no premium tax credit at all, even one dollar over the line. From 2021 through 2025 a cap kept payments at 8.5% of income for everyone. That cap is gone.
- Did cost-sharing reductions change for 2026?
- No. Households between 100% and 250% of the federal poverty level still qualify for lower deductibles and copays on Silver plans only, with the strongest versions below 200%. If your income is in that range, compare Silver plans first.
- What can I do if I can no longer afford my plan?
- Re-shop rather than auto-renew: with the formula changed, the plan that fit last year may not fit now. Check whether your income qualifies for Silver cost-sharing reductions, compare your realistic total year cost across metal tiers rather than premium alone, and estimate your 2026 income carefully since credits depend on it. Open enrollment for 2027 coverage runs November 1, 2026 to January 15, 2027, and qualifying life events open special windows before that.
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