Obamacare premiums are set to spike by a median 14% in 2027 — the second consecutive year of double-digit hikes — and the working Americans who actually pay full freight are the ones getting cleaned out.
Here's why it matters: this was never a glitch. The Affordable Care Act was designed to funnel money from the healthy and working-class into the pockets of the insurance cartel, and it's working exactly as intended. KFF's analysis of 77 insurers across 16 states and Washington, D.C. released Wednesday confirms what anyone paying their own premiums already knew — costs keep climbing, care keeps shrinking, and the middle class gets stuck with the tab.
The median finalized rate increase for 2026 was 20%, according to KFF. Now insurers are back for another 14% in 2027. The insurers blame rising medical costs, general inflation, labor shortages, and the expiration of enhanced federal tax credits at the end of 2025. KFF policy analyst Matthew McGough put it plainly:
