Who is leaving, what's left in your county, and what to do before the deadline. Last checked October 5, 2026.
No major insurer is leaving the Alabama marketplace for 2027.
In 2026, 4 companies sold Alabama marketplace plans: Ambetter (Centene), Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, Oscar and UnitedHealthcare.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber, a licensed health insurance broker, and Alabama is one of the 36 states I'm licensed in. I went looking for an Alabama marketplace insurer pulling out for 2027 and came up empty. The Alabama Department of Insurance approved 2027 rates for the same four companies that sold marketplace plans here in 2026, and I checked that list against the 2026 plan data county by county.
That's good news, but it isn't a guarantee that your plan comes back the same. A company that stays can still retire a plan and move you into a different one, trim its network, or change which drugs it covers, and none of that makes headlines. The letter your insurer sends this fall is where those changes show up, so read it instead of filing it.
The real Alabama story isn't an exit. It's how few choices some counties had to begin with. In 2026, seven counties had exactly one marketplace insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama: Autauga and Elmore just outside Montgomery, plus Butler, Crenshaw, Lamar, Monroe and Wilcox. At the other end, Jefferson, Madison, Shelby, Limestone and Walker counties, around Birmingham and Huntsville, had four companies each.
If you live in a one-insurer county, open enrollment is about choosing the right plan rather than the right company. Compare deductibles, the drug list and whether your doctors are in the 2027 network, not just the monthly price.
Read your renewal letter line by line: the plan name, the network, the deductible and the drug list. If something changed, don't let the plan roll over by default. And if your household earns too much for the premium tax credit, price a nationwide PPO next to the Alabama marketplace before you renew.
No Alabama county loses a marketplace insurer for 2027 from what I checked.
On the marketplace, PPO plans were sold in 67 of Alabama's 67 counties in 2026. They come from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.
When an insurance company leaves, your plan doesn't stop overnight. It runs through December 31, 2026, and the company has to tell you in writing first. Federal rules require at least 90 calendar days notice when a company drops a plan, and at least 180 calendar days when it leaves a state's individual market entirely. If your company is leaving and you haven't seen that letter, call the company and ask for it.
What happens next is the part people get wrong. If no plan from your company is left on the marketplace, the federal rule (45 CFR 155.335) says the marketplace may move you to a plan from a different company. It doesn't say it will. The move has to fit state law, it follows the state regulator's direction, and without that direction the marketplace picks a "similar" plan. Nothing in that rule checks your doctors or your prescriptions.
If you bought your plan straight from the company, off the marketplace, the marketplace's re-enrollment rule doesn't reach you at all. You need to pick a new plan yourself.
Open enrollment on HealthCare.gov starts November 1. By then you should get 2 letters: one from your current company and one from the marketplace. The marketplace letter tells you which plan, if any, you'll be moved into if you do nothing by December 15. HealthCare.gov is plain that in some cases you won't be automatically re-enrolled.
Pick by December 15 and your new plan starts January 1. Pick between December 16 and January 15 and it starts February 1, which leaves January uncovered if your old plan ended December 31.
Miss open enrollment and you may still have a way in. Losing a plan because it's discontinued is on HealthCare.gov's list of qualifying events, and the federal rule gives you 60 days before and 60 days after the day your old coverage ends to pick a new plan. Don't build your plan around that window. Confirm you qualify before you count on it.
Here's how I'd think about it, depending on where you are. Each path ends the same way: a call with me before the deadline.
If you earn too much for the credit, you're paying the full marketplace price, and now you're paying it for whatever is left in your county. You have another option. Private plans with medical underwriting run on nationwide PPO networks and are priced on your health, which is how the price for a healthy person can come in under the marketplace's full rate. They ask health questions up front, and the company can decline you or leave out a past condition, so we go through the details together before you choose.
Next step: Call me and I'll price a nationwide PPO for your household next to the Alabama marketplace plans in your county.
Whatever the marketplace looks like in your county, you can still get a nationwide PPO in Alabama through me. On the marketplace, PPO plans were sold in 67 of Alabama's 67 counties in 2026. They come from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.
Private PPO plans with medical underwriting use networks that work across the country, and for a healthy person who pays full price on the marketplace, they're often worth pricing. I'm licensed in 36 states, and Alabama is one of them.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
No major insurer is leaving the Alabama marketplace for 2027. The Alabama Department of Insurance's 2027 rate approval names the same four marketplace insurers as 2026: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, UnitedHealthcare, Ambetter and Oscar.
Maybe, but don't count on it. The federal rule says the marketplace may move you to a similar plan from a different company, as state law and your state regulator allow. HealthCare.gov says that in some cases you won't be automatically re-enrolled, and if you bought off the marketplace, nobody moves you. Pick your own plan.
On HealthCare.gov, pick by December 15 for coverage that starts January 1. Open enrollment runs to January 15, but a plan picked after December 15 starts February 1.
Yes. You can still get a nationwide PPO in Alabama through me. On the marketplace, PPO plans were sold in 67 of Alabama's 67 counties in 2026. They come from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.
Last checked October 5, 2026. I update this page when the 2027 plan list publishes in late October.
Tell me your county, who's on your plan and what your letter says. I'll show you what's left on the Alabama marketplace, price a nationwide PPO next to it, and help you pick before the deadline. I'm licensed in 36 states and work by phone.
Every state on the list, and guides for Alabama