Arizona health insurance Marketplace guide

To buy Marketplace health coverage in Arizona:³

• You must live in Arizona.
• You must be lawfully present in the U.S.
• You can’t be incarcerated.
• You can’t be enrolled in Medicare.

To qualify for financial assistance (which depends on your household income) through the Arizona Health Insurance Marketplace:

• You can’t be eligible for affordable coverage offered by an employer. You can use this tool to see if the employer-sponsored coverage available to you is considered affordable.
• You can’t be eligible for AHCCCS (Medicaid) or KidsCare (CHIP)
• You can’t be eligible for premium-free Medicare Part A.⁴
• If married, file a joint tax return.⁵
• Not be able to be claimed by someone else as a tax dependent.⁵

Arizona’s open enrollment period to sign up for ACA Marketplace individual and family health plans is between November 1 and January 15. The enrollment window applies whether you enroll through the exchange or directly with an insurer.

If you want your coverage to begin on January 1, enroll by December 15. If you sign up between December 16 and January 15, your coverage will start on February 1.

Note that starting in the fall of 2026, the open enrollment period will be shorter. It will end on December 15, and all plans selected during open enrollment will take effect on January 1. This is the result of a rule change finalized by the federal government in 2025.

If the open enrollment deadline passes, you may still be able to sign up for or make changes to an ACA Marketplace health plan (or an off-exchange plan) during a special enrollment period (SEP). To qualify for a SEP, you’ll generally need a qualifying life event, although American Indians and Alaska Natives can enroll year-round without a specific qualifying life event.

Here are the main ways to enroll in a Marketplace health plan in Arizona:

• Directly through HealthCare.gov
• By phone at (800) 318-2596 (TTY: 1-855-889-4325). Talk to an agent 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except for holidays.
• With the help of a local agent/broker, Navigator, or certified application counselor.
• Via an approved enhanced direct enrollment entity (EDE).⁶ (Make sure you request an on-exchange enrollment if that’s your preference, as EDEs can also generally enroll you in off-exchange coverage if you prefer that. Subsidies are only available if your enrollment is on-exchange.)

In Arizona, individuals and families can generally find affordable health insurance coverage by shopping on HealthCare.gov, which is Arizona’s health insurance Marketplace. The Marketplace offers two different types of income-based subsidies:

• Premium subsidies: Depending on your household income, you could be eligible for subsidies known as Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTC) that help lower your monthly premiums.
  About 90% of Marketplace enrollees in Arizona qualified for premium subsidies in 2025, saving an average of $458 monthly. Subsidy-eligible enrollees paid an average of $69 per month for health coverage.⁷ 
• Cost-Sharing Reductions: If your income is no more than 250% of the federal poverty level⁸ and you select a Silver-level plan, you can receive cost-sharing reductions (CSR) in addition to APTC. CSRs help reduce your out-of-pocket costs, making medical care more affordable when you need it.⁹

Source: CMS.gov⁷

Medicaid: If you’re eligible for Medicaid, you can enroll through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (azahcccs.gov) or Health-e-Arizona (healthearizonaplus.gov).

Short-Term Health Insurance: Consider short-term health insurance if you need a more budget-friendly option and are either ineligible for Marketplace subsidies or Medicaid, or missed the enrollment window for a Marketplace plan (in that case, you’ll want to make sure you go back to the Marketplace to enroll during the next open enrollment window, which begins November 1 each year).

Seven private insurance companies will offer coverage through Arizona’s health insurance Marketplace for 2026, with varying coverage areas.² 

Eight insurers offer coverage in the Arizona Marketplace for 2025, but there are a couple of important changes for 2026:

• Aetna is exiting the market at the end of 2025, as is the case in all states where Aetna offers individual market coverage.
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona will continue to offer Marketplace coverage in 2026, but only HMOs.² The carrier is not renewing its PPO plans, so people with BCBSAZ PPO coverage will need to select a new plan for 2026.¹⁰

Arizona’s Marketplace insurers have proposed the following average rate changes for 2026, applicable to full-price plans (meaning before subsidies are applied):

Source: RateReview.HealthCare.gov²

The weighted average proposed rate increase amounts to 36.1%, before subsidies are applied.¹¹

When looking at overall average rate changes, it’s important to understand:

• Published rates are for full-price plans. Most Arizona Health Insurance Marketplace enrollees receive premium subsidies,¹² so their net rate change also depends on how much their subsidy changes.
• For 2026, subsidies will be smaller and available to fewer people if Congress doesn’t extend the subsidy enhancements that have been in place since 2021. Although the average proposed rate increase for full-price plans is about 36% for 2026, the average net (after-subsidy) premium increase will be much higher than that if the subsidy enhancements expire.¹¹
• Averages don’t account for premiums increasing with age. People pay more each year as they get older.
• A weighted average lumps all plans together. But rate changes vary by insurer (as noted above) and plan.

For perspective, here’s a summary of how average pre-subsidy premiums have changed over time in Arizona’s individual/family health insurance market:

• 2015: Average decrease of 3%¹³
• 2016: Average increase of 12.3%¹⁴
• 2017: Average increase of 57%¹⁵
• 2018: Nearly flat rate for the two on-exchange insurers¹⁶
• 2019: Average decrease of 6.3%¹⁷
• 2020: Average decrease of 0.2%¹⁸
• 2021: Average increase of 0.4%¹⁹
• 2022: Average increase of 0.5%²⁰ (three new insurers joined the exchange)
• 2023: Average increase of 4.3%²¹
• 2024: Average increase of 0.3%²²
• 2025: Average increase of 4.2%²³

During the open enrollment period for 2025 coverage, 423,025 people signed up for private health plans through Arizona’s exchange.²⁴

This was by far a record high (see chart below). The increase in enrollment in recent years has been driven in large part by the enhanced premium subsidies available as a result of the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act.²⁵

The enrollment spike in 2024 and 2025 was also driven by the “unwinding” of the pandemic-era Medicaid continuous coverage rule. According to CMS, more than 134,000 people transitioned from Arizona Medicaid to a Marketplace plan during the unwinding process.²⁶ 

Source: 2014,²⁷ 2015,²⁸ 2016,²⁹ 2017,³⁰ 2018,³¹ 2019,³² 2020,³³ 2021,³⁴ 2022,³⁵ 2023,³⁶ 2024,³⁷ 2025²⁴

HealthCare.gov
The official federal website where you can sign up for health insurance plans through the ACA Marketplace. 

Arizona Department of Insurance
Regulates and licenses health plans, agents, and brokers. Provides consumer information about insurance.

Arizona Health Matters
A resource that provides information about health concerns in Arizona. 

Arizona Association of Community Health Centers/Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers
Community health centers that are also Arizona’s federally-funded Navigator. Help with exchange enrollments.

Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System
Administers Medicaid in Arizona. Provides coverage to low-income residents.

Medicare Rights Center
National service with a website and call center to assist Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers. 

Arizona State Health Insurance Assistance Program
Local counseling, advice, and assistance with Medicare issues.