Florida’s Obamacare shoppers are about to have a thinner menu of choices, and likely a bigger bill, as two heavyweight insurers back away from the state’s marketplace. Cigna has confirmed it will exit individual exchange plans for the 2027 plan year, following Aetna, which already pulled its plans from Florida’s exchange earlier in the current cycle.
Local reporters spotted the trouble first. As detailed by The Palm Beach Post, Cigna is preparing to wind down its presence on Florida’s HealthCare.gov marketplace ahead of 2027. Reporter Anne Geggis notes that consumers in the affected regions are likely to see fewer on-exchange insurers competing for their business and could be staring at higher premiums as a result.
Cigna’s Exit: Scale And Timing
On its April earnings call, Cigna told investors it would leave the individual exchange business at the end of this year, framing the move as part of a broader effort to reshape its portfolio. The remarks were captured in an earnings transcript published by Fortune. Separate reporting from Forbes estimates the decision will affect about 369,000 Marketplace enrollees across 11 states.
Aetna Already Pulled Out
Cigna is not the first to head for the exits. CVS Health previously decided to withdraw Aetna from the individual market, a move that took Aetna off exchanges in multiple states and forced roughly 1 million people to find new coverage for the 2026 plan year, according to FierceHealthcare. Together, these exits are reshaping which insurers still sell exchange plans in Florida and across the country.
Why Carriers Are Retreating
Policy shifts sit at the heart of these corporate calculations. The enhanced premium tax credits that had made coverage cheaper from 2021 through 2025 expired on Dec. 31, 2025, reverting to the earlier subsidy rules and leaving many people to absorb higher premium costs, according to KFF. With enrollment slipping and a relatively sicker group of patients left in the exchanges, analysts say the individual market has become tougher to turn a profit in without renewed federal support, a trend tracked in coverage by Forbes.
What Floridians Should Do
For now, people enrolled in Cigna or Aetna Marketplace plans are being told their 2026 coverage will stay in place and that the companies will help them move to other options during next year’s open enrollment, according to the earnings remarks published by Fortune. Consumer advocates say Floridians should not wait until the last minute: start comparing plans early, review provider networks and subsidy eligibility, and reach out to the Marketplace or a licensed broker for help once open enrollment opens in the fall, guidance echoed by HealthInsurance.org.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are still arguing over whether to bring back the more generous premium tax credits, and no one can say when or if that will happen. That uncertainty leaves many Floridians bracing for a financial squeeze heading into 2027. As KFF points out, federal policy decisions will ultimately play the biggest role in determining which insurers stay in the market and how affordable exchange coverage will be next year.
