Who is leaving, what's left in your county, and what to do before the deadline. Last checked October 5, 2026.
No insurance company is confirmed as leaving the South Carolina marketplace for 2027, but one is in question.
In 2026, 6 companies sold South Carolina marketplace plans: Ambetter (Centene), BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, First Choice Next, InStil Health, Molina and UnitedHealthcare.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber, a broker licensed in 36 states, including South Carolina. I went through every company that sold on the South Carolina marketplace this year, and I found no confirmed or reported exit for 2027. There is one open question, and it's a big one if you're on a Molina plan.
Whether Molina stays on the South Carolina marketplace for 2027 is disputed. Its 2027 rate filing points both ways. One line says marketplace members can't be moved into its off-marketplace plans, which reads like a company stepping back. The same filing prices plans that only exist on the marketplace. Nobody at the state or at Molina has said which it is, and I'm not going to guess for you.
So here's what I'd do if you're a Molina member. Watch your mailbox. By November 1, you should get a letter from Molina and one from the marketplace, and those letters settle it for your household. When HealthCare.gov opens its preview of 2027 plans in late October, look up your county and see whether Molina is on the list.
Molina sold in 37 of South Carolina's 46 counties in 2026. If its disputed exit does happen, no county would be left with a single company. Aiken, Beaufort, Lexington, Sumter and Greenwood would each go from 3 companies to 2, and so would Jasper down near Hardeeville. Charleston and Columbia would go from 4 to 3. The Upstate counties around Greenville and Spartanburg, plus Myrtle Beach and Georgetown along the coast, had no Molina marketplace plans to begin with.
Take a charter boat captain in Beaufort who picked Molina last fall. He doesn't need to switch today. He needs to read both letters the week they arrive, and if his plan is going away, pick from the companies still selling in Beaufort County before December 15.
Molina's South Carolina plans were HMOs, so the PPO picture doesn't move either way.
Different state? Pick yours here.
No South Carolina county loses a marketplace insurer for 2027 from a confirmed exit.
On the marketplace, PPO plans were sold in 46 of South Carolina's 46 counties in 2026. They come from BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.
Molina sold marketplace plans in 37 of South Carolina's 46 counties in 2026. This table shows those counties as they would look without it. In that case 37 of South Carolina's 46 counties lose at least one marketplace insurer.
| County | Insurer leaving | Insurers left | Who's left (2026 plans) | Marketplace PPO after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbeville | Molina | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina | Yes |
| Aiken | Molina | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina | Yes |
| Allendale | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Bamberg | Molina | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina | Yes |
| Barnwell | Molina | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina | Yes |
| Beaufort | Molina | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina | Yes |
| Berkeley | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next | Yes |
| Calhoun | Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Charleston | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next | Yes |
| Cherokee | Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Chester | Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Chesterfield | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; InStil Health | Yes |
| Clarendon | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Colleton | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Darlington | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; InStil Health | Yes |
| Dillon | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next | Yes |
| Dorchester | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next | Yes |
| Edgefield | Molina | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina | Yes |
| Fairfield | Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Florence | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; InStil Health | Yes |
| Greenwood | Molina | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina | Yes |
| Hampton | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Jasper | Molina | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina | Yes |
| Kershaw | Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Lancaster | Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Lee | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Lexington | Molina | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina | Yes |
| Marion | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next | Yes |
| Marlboro | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| McCormick | Molina | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina | Yes |
| Newberry | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Richland | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next | Yes |
| Saluda | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Sumter | Molina | 2 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina | Yes |
| Union | Molina | 4 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; First Choice Next; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| Williamsburg | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; UnitedHealthcare | Yes |
| York | Molina | 3 | Ambetter (Centene); BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina; InStil Health | 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.
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 South Carolina marketplace plans in your county.
Whatever the marketplace looks like in your county, you can still get a nationwide PPO in South Carolina through me. On the marketplace, PPO plans were sold in 46 of South Carolina's 46 counties in 2026. They come from BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.
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 South Carolina is one of them.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
No insurance company is confirmed as leaving the South Carolina marketplace for 2027. Whether Molina is leaving the South Carolina marketplace is disputed: its 2027 filing says marketplace members cannot be moved to its off-marketplace plans, yet the same filing prices plans sold on the marketplace. Check the letter you get in November.
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 South Carolina through me. On the marketplace, PPO plans were sold in 46 of South Carolina's 46 counties in 2026. They come from BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.
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 South Carolina 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 South Carolina