What are the deadlines for the ACA’s open enrollment period?

When is the Affordable Care Act’s annual open enrollment period for 2027 coverage?

In most states, open enrollment for 2027 individual market health coverage runs from November 1, 2026 through January 15, 2027.¹ The deadline to pick a plan with a January 1 effective date is December 15 in most states (exceptions listed below).

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In all states except Idaho, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, open enrollment for 2027 coverage begins on November 1, 2026. (In Idaho, it began on October 15,² and in Connecticut and Massachusetts, it began on October 23.³)

In states that use HealthCare.gov and more than half of the state-run exchanges, open enrollment ends on January 15, 2027.

Here are the enrollment deadlines that state-run Marketplaces are using for 2027 coverage:

• California: January 31⁴
• Colorado: January 15⁵
• Connecticut: January 15⁶
• District of Columbia: January 31⁷
• Georgia: January 15⁸
• Idaho: December 15⁹ (only state where enrollment does not continue into January)
• Illinois: January 15¹⁰
• Kentucky: January 15¹¹
• Maine: January 15¹²
• Maryland: January 15¹³
• Massachusetts: January 23¹⁴
• Minnesota: January 15¹⁵
• Nevada: January 15¹⁶
• New Jersey: January 31¹⁷
• New Mexico: January 15¹⁸
• New York: January 31¹⁹
• Oregon: January 15²⁰
• Pennsylvania: January 15²¹
• Rhode Island: January 31²²
• Vermont: January 15²³
• Virginia: January 29²⁴
• Washington: January 15²⁵
  

What is the deadline to pick a plan with a January 1 effective date?

In most states, including all states that use HealthCare.gov, December 15 is the deadline to pick a plan with a January 1 effective date. But some state-run exchanges have later deadlines:

• California: December 31⁴
• Maryland: December 31¹³
• Massachusetts: December 23²⁶
• Nevada: December 31²⁷
• New Jersey: December 31²⁸
• New Mexico: December 31²⁹
• Oregon: December 31²⁰
• Rhode Island: December 23³⁰
• Virginia: December 31³¹
• Washington: December 31³²

Is the ACA open enrollment schedule changing?

The open enrollment period for 2027 coverage will follow the same schedule that was used in recent years, running from November 1, 2026 to January 15, 2027 in most states.³³ (State-run Marketplaces can have different schedules, which are noted below.)

In 2025, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) finalized a rule change implementing a shorter ACA open enrollment period starting in the fall of 2026.³⁴ The rule clarified that open enrollment would end on December 15 in states that use HealthCare.gov, and that it could not extend past December 31 in states that run their own Marketplaces. The rule also required that all ACA plans selected during open enrollment would take effect on January 1, as there would no longer be an option for a February 1 start date unless an applicant was eligible for a special enrollment period.

However, the rule change requiring a shorter open enrollment period was vacated by a judge in June 2026,³⁵ preventing the shorter open enrollment period from taking effect.

In July 2026, HHS appealed that ruling,³⁶ and oral arguments for the appeal were scheduled for late October 2026.³⁷

But in early August, HHS published a statement regarding a separate lawsuit (brought by the same plaintiffs, regarding rule changes HHS had planned to implement for 2027). It included a clarification that open enrollment in states using HealthCare.gov would run from November 1, 2026 until January 15, 2027.³³

What it means: For 2027 coverage, open enrollment will continue through January 15, 2027 in most states, and the deadline to select a plan with a January 1 effective date will be December 15, 2026 in most states. It's still possible that the schedule could change starting with the open enrollment period in the fall of 2027, depending on the outcome of the appeal.