ATLANTA, Ga. — People who buy their own health coverage through Georgia Access are headed into a second year of sharp price increases, with state insurance figures showing some 2027 marketplace plans rising as much as 29 percent and typical monthly premiums topping $900.
Across all carriers, the approved rate filings published Sept. 25 work out to a weighted average increase of about 20.7 percent for unsubsidized coverage. Insurers had asked for anywhere from 16.9 percent at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia to 54.3 percent at UnitedHealthcare.
That top request did not survive. Georgia’s insurance commissioner’s office objected to the size of the UnitedHealthcare increase, and the company now plans to stop selling plans on the state marketplace in 2027. It will keep its off-exchange individual plans, employer coverage and Medicare business in Georgia, so workers with job-based insurance and Medicare enrollees are not affected.
Two more carriers are leaving as well. Cigna is pulling out of the individual market nationwide, and Peach State Health Plan is also departing. One newcomer, Antidote Health of GA, is joining the Georgia market.
Enrollment has already fallen hard. Roughly 1.3 million Georgians were covered through the exchange in 2025, but that number slid to about 900,000 by late summer this year, nearly a third fewer than a year earlier. In a number of rural counties, the enrollee count was cut by more than half.
Health policy researchers point to several cost drivers, including pricey weight-loss drugs in the GLP-1 class and a pool of remaining customers that skews sicker as healthier people drop coverage. Enhanced federal premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025, which nudged many of those healthier buyers out.
Open enrollment on Georgia Access runs Nov. 1 through Jan. 15, and plans chosen by mid-December begin Jan. 1. The state is skipping the usual window-shopping preview this year. Income-based subsidies are still available to households that qualify, and shoppers can get free assistance by phone at 1-888-687-1503 or from certified navigators and brokers. Current UnitedHealthcare marketplace members will need to pick a new insurer to avoid a gap when their plans end Dec. 31.
Filed under: Augusta GA Health News
