Don't Auto-Renew: How a Benchmark Change Can Raise Your 2027 Net Premium

You generally should not auto-renew your Marketplace plan for 2027. Your tax credit is tied to your county's benchmark silver plan, and in 22 of South Carolina's 46 counties the 2027 benchmark comes from a different carrier than in 2026. In all 46, it is a different plan. When the benchmark moves, the net price of the plan you already have can rise even if you change nothing.

Update your application and compare plans before December 15 so your new coverage starts January 1.

If you do nothing by December 15, HealthCare.gov automatically re-enrolls you in a plan for next year so you avoid a gap in coverage. HealthCare.gov itself recommends updating your application and comparing plans instead, and it warns that even if you're automatically re-enrolled, plan costs can change.

Auto-renewal also keeps last year's income on file unless you update it, which can leave your credit too high (owed back at tax time) or too low.

Your premium tax credit equals the price of the benchmark plan, the second-lowest-cost silver plan in your county, minus the amount you are expected to pay based on income. For 2027, someone between 300% and 400% of the poverty level is expected to pay 10.22% of income for that benchmark plan, according to the IRS.

Your own plan's price isn't part of that formula. The credit is sized to the benchmark. If your plan costs more than the benchmark, you pay your expected share plus the difference. If it costs less, you pay less.

When carriers enter or leave, the benchmark can move, and a plan that sat near it may now sit well above it.

From 2026 to 2027, the benchmark carrier changed in 22 counties. In 12 of them, the 2026 benchmark was a Molina plan, and Molina is not selling Marketplace plans in South Carolina for 2027. In Aiken, Florence and York, the new benchmark comes from a carrier that just entered the county.

In Greenville, the benchmark moved from a BCBS plan to First Choice Next's Silver Signature. In Aiken, it moved from Molina to First Choice Next, which is new to the county.

In nine counties, the carrier that had the 2026 benchmark still sells plans in 2027, but its lowest-priced silver plan now sits above the new benchmark. In 2026, that carrier's lowest silver plan was at or just below the benchmark in each county. If you get a tax credit and stay with that carrier's lowest silver plan, you now pay the gap on top of your expected share.

A Greenville example

Take a single 40-year-old in Greenville County earning $55,860, which is 350% of the 2026 poverty guideline. For 2027, they are expected to pay 10.22% of income, about $476 a month, for the benchmark plan. Their estimated tax credit is about $266 a month (the $741 benchmark minus $476).

Staying with a BCBS silver plan may still be the right call if it has your doctors. You only see the trade-off if you compare.

Molina is leaving all 37 of the South Carolina counties where it sold Marketplace plans in 2026. UnitedHealthcare leaves eight counties and InStil Health leaves Spartanburg. If you were with one of these carriers, you cannot renew the same plan, and a plan you did not pick may have a different network and drug list. Read our guide for members who were auto-enrolled after Molina's exit.

1. Log in to HealthCare.gov and open your 2027 application.
2. Update your 2027 income and household. See how to estimate your 2027 income.
3. Find your new benchmark. Look up your county in our 2027 rate changes by county report.
4. Compare every carrier in your county. Our carriers by county list shows who sells where.
5. Check doctors, hospitals and prescriptions for any plan you are considering. Our guide on checking your doctors and drugs helps.
6. Enroll by December 15 for a January 1 start. See our December 15 deadline guide.

Our agents can run this checklist with you at no cost.