5 Ways to Save During 2026 Open Enrollment

Health insurance. You know you need it, but why does it have to be so darn expensive—and complicated?

In 2025, American families on average will pay $6,850 in health insurance premiums for their employer-sponsored plan.¹ Ouch. And the costs are rising—the average family premium went up 6% over the past year, and 26% over the last five years.² Meanwhile, premiums for Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obamacare) marketplace plans are expected to rise 26% on average in 2026.³

Maybe there’s a better way. When it comes to health insurance, you could be leaving money on the table. We’re going to share five ways to save money on health insurance during 2026 open enrollment.

But first, let’s take a quick look at open enrollment and the marketplace for 2026 coverage.

What You Need to Know About the Marketplace and Open Enrollment

In 2010, the ACA formed the health insurance marketplace to give people a way to compare and sign up for health insurance. Today, anyone can go on the government insurance marketplace site and choose an individual or family health insurance policy. Depending on where you live, the marketplace is either federally based or run by your state. The best option, though, is to reach out to an independent agent who can get you exactly what you need at the best price.

When Is Open Enrollment?

Open enrollment is that specific window of time when you can sign up for coverage for the next year. And while it happens every year, at least a few of the details change each year—so “set it and forget it” is not an option. You need to be looking for updates every year.

For employer-sponsored plans, open enrollment is typically in the fall. Each employer sets its own specific dates, so check with your employer to make sure you don’t miss yours.  

On the marketplace, open enrollment begins November 1, 2025, and lasts until January 15, 2026. You’ll need to enroll by December 15, 2026, for your coverage to take effect January 1, 2026, and by January 15, 2026, for your coverage to take effect February 1, 2026. If your state runs its own marketplace, the open enrollment dates will usually fall in that November 1 to January 15 window.⁴ Check out the chart below for dates in specific states.

If you miss open enrollment, you won’t be able to sign up for health insurance for 2026 through the marketplace or your employer unless you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period due to certain life events, like having a baby or losing your job.

Open Enrollment in States With Their Own Marketplaces

Source: healthinsurance.org.⁵ State-run exchange plan information subject to change.

Now that you have the dates, let’s find ways to save you some money!

5 Ways to Save Money During Open Enrollment

1. Don’t automatically go with your employer’s option.

It’s easy to assume your company’s health insurance package is a great deal. After all, employers often get discounted rates by buying health insurance plans in bulk (just like Costco, but with health insurance!). In reality, your company’s plan might be your best option, or it might be horrible (as in, horribly expensive)—and the only way to know for sure is to shop around.

The biggest plus of your employer’s group plan is that they’ll usually share the costs of your premiums with you. That’s a deal that’s hard (but not impossible) to beat.

Another benefit of enrolling in a workplace plan is the convenience of having the premiums deducted from your paycheck pretax, lowering your taxable income for the year (yes, please!). But even with the cost sharing and the tax benefit, it’s worth checking out the marketplace to see if you can save.

2. Compare different plans and shop around.

Hundreds of companies offer health plans on the marketplace.⁶ This gives you a ton of options to find a plan that saves you money. Many states have three or more options available, so it just makes sense to compare prices to make sure you’re getting the best bang for that buck.

There are five levels of coverage in the marketplace health care plans—catastrophic, bronze, silver, gold and platinum. These tiers give you a lot of flexibility for budgeting health insurance by allowing you to choose how much you’ll pay in premiums: the higher the premiums, the less you’ll owe for services out of pocket (and vice versa). But the coverage levels only affect your price—never the quality of care you have available.

The catastrophic plan has the highest out of pocket maximum, while the platinum plan has the lowest (with insurance paying 90% of your costs). Keep in mind, though, the platinum plans also have the highest premiums.

Let’s be honest—those options can be a lot to sift through. So we recommend working with an insurance advisor when you’re shopping insurance. They can find coverage that works for you and your situation—saving you plenty of time.

3. See if you qualify for a tax credit.

As a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill in 2025, the “enhanced” premium tax credits that were introduced in 2021 are set to expire at the end of this year. But that doesn’t mean there are no tax credits available for health insurance!

While the “enhanced” premium tax credits from 2021 did go away, lots of people will still qualify for the normal ACA tax credits that cover a portion (or even all) of their premiums.

Even if you weren’t eligible for help in prior years, check again to see if you could save in 2026. If you qualify, you’ll get a tax credit to offset some of the high costs of health insurance.

4. Start a Health Savings Account (HSA).

If health insurance had a superpower, it would be the HSA. If you have a high-deductible health insurance plan (or HDHP), you can use an HSA to set aside pretax money from your paycheck to pay for a variety of medical expenses. You never pay taxes on the money you put into your HSA, and you don’t pay taxes when you use it to pay for qualifying medical expenses. Did we say tax-free? Yep.

Another beautiful thing about HSAs is that the money rolls over from year to year. So, you can pile up some serious dough. If you get your insurance through your employer, check to see if yours offers an HSA match—meaning if you put in $500, they’ll add $500 too. Nice! You can also invest the funds so they grow (tax-free) while you’re sleeping. What a dream!

5. Improve your health and lifestyle.

Imagine not needing health insurance because you’re so healthy. Now, that’s not actually possible (you never want to risk being without insurance!). But this much is possible: only paying your premiums and never needing to actually use the insurance. It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds! You can get closer to making this a reality if you take steps to improve your habits and make healthier choices.

Eat better. Sleep (yes, just put your phone down and go to sleep). And, you guessed it, exercise. We know—shocking, right? But all joking aside, the healthier you are, the less care you may need. And the more you’ll save.

Those five tips will take you really far. But how about a few bonus ideas to get you across the finish line? Here are some next steps you can take right now to be sure you’re saving on the best available health insurance for yourself and your family.