Missouri health insurance Marketplace guide

You can buy individual and family health insurance from Missouri’s Marketplace if:⁴

• You live in Missouri. 
• You are lawfully present in the U.S.
• You don’t have Medicare.
• You are not incarcerated.

Eligibility for financial assistance with your Marketplace coverage will depend on your income. In addition, to be eligible for financial assistance in the Marketplace:

• You must not be eligible for affordable employer-sponsored health coverage.
• You must not be eligible for Medicaid/CHIP (MO HealthNet).
• You must not be eligible for premium-free Medicare Part A.⁵
• If married, file a joint tax return.⁶
• Not be able to be claimed by someone else as a tax dependent.⁶

In Missouri, the open enrollment period to sign up for ACA-compliant individual and family health plans is from November 1 to January 15.

• If you enroll by December 15, your coverage starts on January 1.
• If you enroll between December 16 and January 15, your coverage starts February 1.⁷

But starting in the fall of 2026, for health coverage effective in 2027 and future years, the open enrollment period will run from November 1 to December 15. All plans selected during open enrollment will take effect January 1.

Outside of open enrollment, you can still make plan changes or enroll in the Marketplace if you qualify for a special enrollment period (SEP). Most SEPs require a qualifying life event, such as involuntary loss of coverage, marriage, or having a baby.

But if you’re an Alaska Native or American Indian, you can enroll anytime.⁸

Medicaid enrollment is also open year-round, for people who are Medicaid-eligible.

In Missouri, you have a few options to enroll in a Marketplace health plan:

• Directly through HealthCare.gov – the ACA exchange
• By phone at (800) 318-2596
• By contacting agents, navigators, certified application counselors or an approved enhanced direct enrollment entity.⁹
• By mailing in a paper application
  

Many people use the ACA Marketplace, including early retirees not yet on Medicare, self-employed people, and those who work for small businesses without health benefits.

In Missouri, you can find affordable health plans through the ACA Marketplace’s website: HeathCare.gov.

Under the ACA, you may qualify for income-based subsidies called Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTC). These credits lower your premiums.

During the open enrollment period for 2025 coverage, 94% of the people who enrolled in coverage through Missouri’s exchange were receiving premium subsidies, saving an average of $564 per month. The average after-subsidy premium (including the 6% of people paying full price) was about $91/month.¹⁰ 

If your income isn’t more than 250% of the federal poverty level, you may also receive cost-sharing reductions (CSR), as long as you enroll in a Silver-level plan.¹¹ CSRs reduce your out-of-pocket costs when you use your health insurance. 

Source: CMS.gov ¹²

Missourians may also find affordable coverage through Medicaid if eligible. Missouri expanded Medicaid eligibility guidelines in 2021, under the terms of a voter-approved ballot measure that implemented the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. This allows adults younger than 65 to enroll in Medicaid with a household income up to 138% of the poverty level. Learn more in our Missouri Medicaid guide.

Short-term plans are also a low-cost option for people who are not eligible for employer plans, Medicaid, Medicare, or subsidies through the exchange. However, short-term health insurance is not regulated by the ACA, so the policies generally do not cover pre-existing conditions, do not cover all of the ACA’s essential health benefits, and are only designed to provide temporary coverage.

Eight insurers (with varying coverage areas) are offering coverage through Missouri’s Marketplace for 2026,¹³ down from nine in 2025:¹⁴

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City
• Celtic Insurance Company
• Cox Health Systems Insurance Company
• Healthy Alliance Life Insurance Company (Anthem)
• Medica Insurance Company
• Oscar Insurance Company
• Media WellFirst
• United Healthcare Insurance Company

As is the case in all states where they offer Marketplace coverage in 2025, Aetna is exiting at the end of 2025. Missouri Marketplace enrollees with Aetna plans have until December 31, 2025 to select a replacement policy with a January 1, 2026 effective date.

There were ten insurers offering plans in 2023,¹⁵, but Cigna exited Missouri’s individual insurance market at the end of 2023.¹⁶ 

The following average rate changes were approved for 2026¹³ amounting to a weighted average rate increase of 23.1% before any subsidies are applied.¹⁷

Source: Missouri Department of Insurance¹³

The approved rate changes apply to full-price premiums. Since most people on Missouri’s exchange receive premium tax credits, they don’t pay the full price.¹⁸ If you qualify for subsidies, your net rate change depends on changes in your plan rates and your subsidy amounts.

But it’s important to understand that the federal subsidy enhancements that have made Marketplace coverage much more affordable since 2021 are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025. Unless Congress chooses to extend those subsidy enhancements, subsidies will not cover as much of the premiums as they did in 2025, and the “subsidy cliff” will return. This will make coverage much less affordable than it was in 2025. As of early December 2025, this issue was still unresolved in Congress.¹⁹

A note about rate review in Missouri: Prior to 2017, Missouri did not have an effective rate review program, but that changed in 2017 (as of 2025, only three states — Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wyoming — do not have an effective rate review program and thus rely on the federal government for this).²⁰

Since 2017, under the terms of SB865, the Missouri Department of Insurance has taken an active role in reviewing insurers’ proposed rate changes.²¹ State regulators determine whether the proposed rates are justified, although they are not allowed to prevent an insurer from implementing a rate change, even if the state does not consider it to be justified (this is the same as the federal rate review process).

For perspective, here’s a summary of how unsubsidized premiums have changed over the years in Missouri’s individual/family health insurance market:

• 2015: Average increase of 9%²²
• 2016: Average increase of 14%²³
• 2017: Average increase of 25.5%²⁴
• 2018: Average increase of 40%²⁵
• 2019: Average increase of 1.6%²⁶
• 2020: Average decrease of 2%²⁷
• 2021: Average increase of 4.7%.²⁸
• 2022: Average increase of 2.3%.²⁹
• 2023: Average increase of 11%³⁰
• 2024: Average increase of 4.6%³¹
• 2025: Average decrease of 1.7%³²

During the open enrollment period for 2025 coverage, 417,000 people signed up for private health plans through Missouri’s exchange/Marketplace.³³ This was a significant new record high (see graph below). As of March 2025, effectuated enrollment in Missouri’s Marketplace stood at 403,033.³⁴

Usually, when a state expands Medicaid, Marketplace enrollment drops. That’s because people with income between 100 and 138% of the federal poverty level transfer from Marketplace plans to Medicaid.

But Missouri’s Marketplace enrollment grew in 2022 and 2023 despite the 2021 Medicaid expansion. This growth is likely because of larger subsidies from the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act. The larger and more accessible subsidies make coverage more affordable.³⁵

And the enrollment growth in 2024 and 2025 was also driven by the “unwinding” of the pandemic-era Medicaid continuous coverage rule. CMS reported that by April 2024, more than 124,000 Missouri residents had transitioned from Medicaid (MO HealthNet) to a Marketplace plan.³⁶

Source: 2014,³⁷ 2015,³⁸ 2016,³⁹ 2017,⁴⁰ 2018,⁴¹ 2019,⁴² 2020,⁴³ 2021,⁴⁴ 2022,⁴⁵ 2023,⁴⁶ 2024,⁴⁷ 2025⁴⁸

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

Missouri Department of Insurance
Oversees and regulates health plans, brokers, and agents.

MO HealthNet
Missouri’s Medicaid.

Missouri State Health Insurance Assistance Program (Missouri SHIP)
Helps Missourians with Medicare benefits.

Medicare Rights Center
National resource with a website and call center to provide information and help for people on Medicare.