Who is leaving, what's left in your county, and what to do before the deadline. Last checked October 5, 2026.
Two insurance companies are leaving the Illinois marketplace for 2027.
Altogether, 8 of Illinois's 102 counties lose at least one marketplace insurer.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber, a broker licensed in 36 states, Illinois among them. Get Covered Illinois has said it plainly: starting January 1, 2027, Cigna and Molina plans won't be on its marketplace. Both exits are confirmed, and both are a Chicago-area story. Cigna sold in the collar counties and south toward Kankakee: DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, Will, Grundy and Kankakee. Molina sold in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will.
Downstate, nothing changes. The other 94 Illinois counties keep every marketplace insurer they had in 2026, so if you're in Springfield, Peoria, Champaign or Carbondale, your letter this fall is about your own plan's changes, not a company leaving.
The suburbs where the two footprints overlap take the biggest hit. DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will each go from six marketplace companies to four. Cook loses one and keeps four. Grundy County, around Morris, is the thinnest spot: it goes from three companies to two, so anyone there whose doctors sit in only one network has very little room to move.
Some of you have already been through this. Aetna stopped selling Illinois marketplace plans for 2026. If you landed on a Cigna or Molina plan after that, you're being asked to move a second time.
If you're on Cigna or Molina, pick your own 2027 plan on Get Covered Illinois before the deadline instead of waiting to be placed. Check your doctors by name. Don't assume every Chicago hospital system is in every network; confirm the one you actually use. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois sold marketplace PPOs in every Illinois county in 2026. If you're healthy and pay full price, price a nationwide PPO next to it.
Different state? Pick yours here.
These are the 8 Illinois counties where at least one marketplace insurer is leaving. For each one you can see who's leaving, how many marketplace insurers are left, and which ones.
On the marketplace, PPO plans were sold in 102 of Illinois's 102 counties in 2026, and all 102 of those counties still have one after the exits. Those PPO plans come from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.
| County | Insurer leaving | Insurers left | Who's left (2026 plans) | Marketplace PPO after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook | Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois; Oscar; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| DuPage | Cigna; Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois; Oscar; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Grundy | Cigna | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois | Yes |
| Kane | Cigna; Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois; Oscar; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Kankakee | Cigna | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Kendall | Cigna; Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois; Oscar; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Lake | Cigna | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois; Oscar; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Will | Cigna; Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois; Oscar; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
County data: CMS 2026 marketplace plan data source. Insurers are counted by company, and the table uses each company's 2026 service area, so a company that enters or expands for 2027 isn't counted yet. I'll update it when the 2027 plan list publishes in late October.
A few other names come up in the news about this. Here's where each one actually stands.
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.
Illinois runs its own marketplace, Get Covered Illinois, instead of HealthCare.gov. It sends its own notices, and its deadlines can be different from HealthCare.gov's (December 15 for a January 1 start, January 15 to close). Check the dates on Get Covered Illinois itself before you count on them, and treat its letter the same way: it tells you which plan, if any, you'd be moved into if you do nothing.
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 Illinois marketplace plans in your county.
Whatever the marketplace looks like in your county, you can still get a nationwide PPO in Illinois through me. On the marketplace, PPO plans were sold in 102 of Illinois's 102 counties in 2026, and all 102 of those counties still have one after the exits. Those PPO plans come from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.
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 Illinois is one of them.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
Cigna (confirmed) and Molina (confirmed). Altogether, 8 of Illinois's 102 counties lose at least one marketplace insurer.
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.
Illinois runs its own marketplace, Get Covered Illinois, and its dates can differ from HealthCare.gov's December 15 and January 15. Check the deadline on Get Covered Illinois and pick early so your new plan starts January 1.
Yes. You can still get a nationwide PPO in Illinois through me. On the marketplace, PPO plans were sold in 102 of Illinois's 102 counties in 2026, and all 102 of those counties still have one after the exits. Those PPO plans come from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.
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 Illinois 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 Illinois