Cigna and Baylor Scott & White Are Leaving the Marketplace After 2026

The short version

• Two health insurance companies are ending their Marketplace plans (also called Obamacare or ACA plans) on December 31, 2026.
• They are Cigna and Baylor Scott & White Health Plan.
• Together they cover close to half a million people. [1]
• Nothing changes right now. Your plan keeps working until the last day of 2026. [3]
• You will pick a new plan for 2027 during Open Enrollment.
• You are not losing health insurance. You are changing companies.

What happened

Cigna told regulators it will stop selling Marketplace plans in every state after 2026. That is 11 states and about 369,000 people. [1]

Baylor Scott & White Health Plan is doing the same in Texas. That is about 100,000 people. [2]

They are not alone. At least a dozen insurance companies have said they are leaving the Marketplace after 2026. [1]

Cigna sells Marketplace plans in Florida and in Texas today. So this one touches a lot of our clients directly. [1]

Baylor Scott & White: it grew fast, then it stopped

Baylor Scott & White is a large Texas hospital system. It was formed in 2013, when Baylor Health Care System and Scott & White Healthcare came together. [4]

It also owned its own health plan. That is unusual. Most insurance companies pay somebody else's hospitals. This one owned the hospitals and sold the insurance.

On paper that is a great deal for a member. Your plan and your doctor are on the same team.

And it worked for a while. By 2026 the plan covered about 100,000 Marketplace members in Texas, roughly 2.6% of everyone in the state with a Marketplace plan. [5]

Then it stopped. The company says it will now focus on employer plans and Medicare Advantage instead. [3] The exit also cuts 321 jobs across Texas. [5]

Their CEO said the quiet part out loud. Their model works best with people who stay put:

"That model can work both for the customer and economically because there's not as much turnover in those populations. It's harder to do in marketplace and Medicaid because there's high turnover." - Pete McCanna, CEO, Baylor Scott & White Health [2]

Our take - this part is our opinion as an agency, not a news report. They grew by being cheap. A low price brings members fast. But a low price only works if enough healthy people sign up and stay. On the Marketplace, people come and go every year. The ones who stay the longest are usually the ones using the most care. That is the hardest customer in insurance to price, and the plan is telling you so in its own words above.

Cigna: the biggest name on the list

Cigna is one of the largest health insurance companies in the country, and it has sold Marketplace plans since the Marketplace began. In 2023 the company said it had "continuously maintained our presence in the ACA Marketplace over the past ten years." [6]

Now it is leaving all of it. Every state, after 2026. [1]

It is the same story with a bigger number. The cost of care went up. Prices went up. And when prices go up, people stop shopping for coverage and start shopping for the smallest monthly payment.

Our take - again, our opinion. The Marketplace has turned into a price contest. Most people now pick by the monthly cost alone. A big company with a wide network, real customer service and good hospitals cannot win that contest, because all of that costs money. So it either cuts the network down to match the cheap plans, or it walks away. Cigna walked away.

Why are so many companies leaving at the same time?

The industry calls this year a "perfect storm." [1] Here it is in plain words.

1. The extra help ended. The bigger federal subsidies stopped on December 31, 2025. [1]
2. People's bills jumped. Even after millions moved to cheaper plans or dropped coverage, the average amount people pay out of their own pocket for premiums went up 58% in 2026. [1]
3. People left. About one in five HealthCare.gov members dropped their coverage this year. [7]
4. The healthy ones left first. A healthy person sees the new price and decides to take the risk. A sick person cannot. [1]
5. So the cost per member went up again. Fewer members, sicker on average, bigger bills. That is the storm.

The numbers show it. In 2025 an average of 22.3 million people had Marketplace coverage in force. By February 2026 it was 19.2 million. [1]

Is anybody fixing this?

They are trying.

The main move so far has been to tighten the rules on who can sign up and when, aimed at improper sign-ups and people being switched between plans without permission. [1] [8] That is a real problem and it does hurt members, so cleaning it up is the right thing to do.

But it comes at a price. Federal regulators expect the new 2027 rules could push as many as 2 million more people out of the Marketplace. [8]

And it is not even settled. A judge put some of those rules on hold in July 2026. [9]

So far there is no result you can feel. Nothing has brought the price down.

This has happened before

Companies leave and companies come back.

Aetna left the Marketplace after 2017. It came back in 2022. It left again after 2025 we wrote about that one too. [1]

And the market today is still healthier than it was in 2018. Back then, more than a quarter of members had only one company to choose from. In 2026, only 1% of HealthCare.gov members were down to a single company. [10]

That is the honest good news: you still have choices.

What you should do

If you have Cigna or Baylor Scott & White:

• Do nothing today. Your plan is good through December 31, 2026. [3]
• Watch your mail. Your company has to send you a notice. [3]
• Pick a new plan during Open Enrollment. Baylor Scott & White tells its members that window is November 1 to December 15, 2026. [3] Dates can differ by state, so confirm yours before you count on them.
• Before you choose, check two things: is your doctor in the new plan, and are your medicines covered. [3]
• Keep a written list of your medicines and your doctors. It makes the switch much easier. [3]
• If you get your care at Baylor Scott & White, relax — the hospitals and doctors will keep taking Marketplace plans from other companies. Only the insurance side is closing. [3]

If you have another company: check anyway. In Florida, Sunshine State Health Plan is also ending its Marketplace plans after 2026. [1]

Why an agent matters right now

Here is the part that usually gets forgotten.

An insurance company is a business. It comes in when the money works, and it leaves when it does not. That is not evil, it is a business decision, and every source above says so plainly. [1]

You are the one left holding the problem.

An agency is different. We are still here in November. We have watched, year after year, which companies stay through the hard years and which ones show up with a cheap price, grab members, and disappear two years later. Nobody publishes that list. We live it.

And it costs you nothing extra. A Marketplace plan is the same price whether you buy it alone or with a licensed agent helping you.

Bottom line

Two big companies are leaving. Close to half a million people will change plans. That part is real.

But it is a change of company, not the end of your coverage. The companies still standing are the ones that managed their members carefully instead of buying growth, and they are still selling.

Please do not "take the risk." Going without health insurance is the most expensive plan there is.

Not sure what happens to your plan in 2027? Talk to a licensed agent or ask for a free quote. We will tell you what is actually available in your county.

Sources

1. Louise Norris, "Health insurers are exiting the Marketplace again. Should consumers be worried?" healthinsurance.org, updated August 4, 2026.
2. "Baylor Scott & White Health Plan to exit Medicaid, individual markets; cut 321 jobs," Becker's Payer Issues.
3. "Individual & Family Marketplace Plans" and the "member FAQ," Baylor Scott & White Health Plan.
4. "Our History," Baylor Scott & White Health.
5. Layten Praytor, "Baylor Scott & White Health Plan to Halt Medicaid and Marketplace Coverage Offerings," D CEO Magazine, April 17, 2026.
6. "Cigna Healthcare Announces 2024 Marketplace Plans," Cigna Healthcare, August 2023.
7. "One in Five HealthCare.gov Enrollees Dropped Insurance Coverage This Year," NOTUS, May 12, 2026.
8. "HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2027," Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, May 2026.
9. "City of Columbus et al. v. Kennedy et al. (Columbus II)," Health Care Litigation Tracker, Georgetown Law.
10. "Plan Year 2026 Marketplace Plans and Prices Fact Sheet," Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, October 30, 2025.

Doctor Insurance One is a licensed insurance agency, not an insurance company. Plans, prices and networks change by county and by year, and nothing on this page is a quote or an offer of coverage. The sections marked "Our take" are our opinion.