Originally published on 2/10/26

Health insurance has been in the news a lot lately. And thanks to the many Medicare changes to the now-expired Affordable Care Act—also known as Obamacare—and enhanced subsidies (which expanded the program’s reliability), a lot of Americans are worried about what insurance they can get and how much it will cost them. Now, President Donald Trump and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have created a new 2027 Payment Notice that would make it easier for people to get a health insurance plan that works for them. To learn more about this proposal, keep reading. 

What to know about the 2027 Payment Notice plan 

On Monday, February 9, the Trump administration proposed a new set of Obamacare rules for 2027 that would allow insurance companies to offer new long-term plans with low premiums. With those lower premiums come higher out-of-pocket costs that are normally used to cover medical expenses. This proposal, called the 2027 Payment Notice plan, is expected to help eliminate fraud and misleading practices created by health insurance agents offering Affordable Care Act coverage. To do this, the administration and CMS will work with insurers to ban the promise of cash sign-on bonuses and of zero-dollar monthly premiums to get people to sign up. 

It will also require insurance agents and brokers to use U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) forms to document whether a plan member has reviewed and agreed to be enrolled in a particular insurance plan for the first time in history. According to CMS, this will help Americans know which plan they chose, and it will ensure they have a written record of it that they can refer to if/when they need. 

The proposal also includes a provision allowing “non-network” plans to be certified as Qualified Health Plans (a group of private health insurance plans created by the Health Insurance Marketplace). By doing this, Americans would no longer have to deal with a restricted list of in-network doctors. Instead, they would be allowed to go anywhere as long as they agree to pay a set amount for the selected services, which will result in higher out-of-pocket costs for Americans. 

The administration also plans to create a State-Based Exchange program that will make it easier for states to leave the federal Healthcare.gov program and create their own. States will also be able to conduct their own reviews on whether insurance companies have enough doctors in their network, allowing Americans to get the care they need. 

The government also wants to add routine adult dental services to the “Essential Health Benefits” list, a change that would make it easier for people to get whatever dental service they need. 

When would the 2027 Payment Notice plan take effect?

Currently, the 2027 Payment Notice plan is still just an idea created by the Trump administration and CMS. Now that it’s been proposed, Americans, insurers and medical professionals have until March 11 to comment on it. 

The government will then take the feedback, reconvene and decide what they want to make before voting to sign it into law. As of publication, there is no timeline for if/when that will happen. 

Link to original: https://www.womansworld.com/healthcare/trump-proposes-2027-obamacare-rule-changes-for-insurance-plans