Cigna Leaving Florida Marketplace: What Members Must Do

If you have an individual health plan through the Florida Marketplace with Cigna, you have a decision this fall that you cannot skip. Cigna is leaving the Florida Marketplace: the company announced in April 2026 that it is exiting the ACA individual market entirely, and its Marketplace plans end on December 31, 2026. About 369,000 members across 11 states are affected, Florida among them. Nothing changes about your care between now and the end of the year, and your plan is not being cut off early. But if you take no action before the December deadline, you can start 2027 in a plan you did not choose, with a network that does not include your doctor, or with no coverage at all. Here is what is actually happening, who else is affected, and how to replace the plan cleanly.

What Cigna leaving the Florida Marketplace actually means

Cigna announced on April 30, 2026 that it will stop selling individual ACA exchange plans and redirect its attention to its employer, pharmacy, and specialty care businesses. In Florida the company sold Marketplace coverage in 2026 through two entities — Cigna HMO and Cigna Health and Life — across a limited group of counties. Neither will offer Marketplace plans for 2027. Every Florida enrollee on one of those plans has to actively select a new plan for next year.

Two clarifications, because carrier news travels badly and people panic about the wrong things:

• This is the individual Marketplace only. If your Cigna coverage comes through an employer, it is a separate business line and is not part of this announcement.
• Ambetter is not leaving Florida. A related change is genuinely happening — Sunshine State Health Plan has filed a discontinuation notice in Florida, so its enrollees also need 2027 coverage — but Sunshine State and Ambetter share a parent company, Ambetter plans are expected to remain available in Florida, and those members are expected to be moved to Ambetter coverage. If you are an Ambetter member, your insurer is not disappearing from the state. Read any notice you personally receive rather than acting on headlines, because individual plans can still be discontinued or restructured even when the carrier stays.

You may also see Aetna named in coverage of this topic. Aetna left the individual market at the end of 2025, in Florida and in every other state where it sold individual coverage. That exit already happened; it is not a new change for 2027. Insurers entering and leaving the Marketplace is a normal, recurring feature of the ACA exchanges, and a carrier exit does not mean the Florida Marketplace is closing or that you will be left without options.

How to tell whether this affects you

Check three things:

1. The insurer name on your ID card. Not the plan name, not the network name — the company issuing the policy.
2. How you bought it. This affects plans purchased through HealthCare.gov or directly as individual or family ACA coverage, not employer group plans.
3. Your mail and your HealthCare.gov message center. When a plan is discontinued, insurers are required to send a notice, and these typically arrive in the fall ahead of open enrollment. That letter is the official confirmation for your specific policy. Make sure your mailing address and email on the Marketplace application are current, or the one piece of mail that matters most this year goes to an old address.

The auto-reenrollment trap

This is the part that catches people, and it is worth understanding before November. When your plan is discontinued, HealthCare.gov generally will not simply drop you. It tries to match you to a comparable plan from another insurer so you are not left uninsured on January 1. That backstop exists to prevent a coverage gap — it is not a recommendation, and no one has checked it against your life.

A plan you are auto-matched into can differ from your current plan in every way that matters:

• A different provider network. Your primary care doctor, your specialist, or your preferred hospital may be out of network in the replacement plan.
• A different drug formulary. A prescription that is covered cheaply today may sit on a higher tier, require prior authorization, or not be covered at all.
• A different deductible and out-of-pocket maximum. Two plans at the same metal tier can be structured very differently.
• A different premium and a different subsidy. Premium tax credits are calculated from a benchmark plan in your county. When carriers leave a county, the plan that sets that benchmark can change, which shifts the subsidy amount for everyone shopping there — sometimes up, sometimes down.

There is a second, quieter version of the same trap: if you never revisit your application, the income and household information on it stays as you last left it. Since your subsidy is based on your estimated income for the coming year, a stale estimate can mean too little help each month or an unwelcome reconciliation at tax time. A carrier exit is the natural moment to update it. Our Florida ACA subsidy eligibility guide explains how the income math works, and you can estimate your subsidy before you shop so you know roughly what to expect.

Your Florida deadlines for 2027 coverage

Florida uses HealthCare.gov rather than running its own state exchange, so federal dates apply. Open enrollment for 2027 coverage is expected to begin November 1, 2026. Two dates then matter, and they are not the same date:

• December 15, 2026 — the deadline to select a plan that takes effect January 1, 2027. If your Cigna plan ends December 31, this is your real deadline. Enrolling after it means a gap.
• January 15, 2027 — the expected close of open enrollment, with coverage generally starting February 1. That is a month uninsured if you were counting on it.

One honest caveat about the calendar. A 2025 federal rule would have shortened the HealthCare.gov window to end on December 15, but a federal judge vacated that provision in June 2026, and the government has appealed with arguments expected later this year. The practical advice is the same either way, which is why we can give it confidently: treat December 15 as your deadline. It is the date that protects you under both outcomes, and it is the date that keeps your coverage continuous. Confirm the current schedule at HealthCare.gov before you rely on the January date — we are a licensed Florida insurance agency, not a government agency, and HealthCare.gov is the official source. Our Florida open enrollment guide covers how the enrollment process works step by step.

Choosing a replacement plan instead of accepting one

Being forced to shop is not the same as being worse off. Florida has a large, competitive Marketplace, and members who actively compare plans often find a better fit than the one they drifted into. Work through it in this order:

• List your doctors and prescriptions first. Before you look at a single premium, write down every provider you want to keep and every medication you take, with the dosage. Then check each one against the specific plan you are considering.
• Compare total cost, not the monthly premium. Add the premium after subsidy, the deductible, the copays you realistically expect, and the out-of-pocket maximum.
• Reconsider your metal tier. If your income falls in the range that qualifies for cost-sharing reductions, those savings are only available on Silver plans, which changes the math considerably. Our guide to Florida ACA metal tiers breaks down who each tier fits.
• Check county availability. Plan offerings and networks in Florida vary by county, so what is available in the next county over may not be available to you.

What if you miss the December deadline

Losing coverage because your plan was discontinued is a qualifying life event, which opens a special enrollment period — generally 60 days — even outside open enrollment. That is a real safety net, and if you are reading this in January, use it rather than assuming the door is shut. But it is a repair, not a plan: a special enrollment period does not backdate your coverage, so any gap you have already opened stays open, and you carry the full cost of anything that happens during it. Our Florida special enrollment period guide covers which events qualify and how to document them.

If you would rather not work through this alone, that is what we do. Request a free plan review or call us at (888) 880-4335, and a licensed Florida agent will confirm whether your plan is affected, check your doctors and prescriptions against the plans available in your county, and make sure you have coverage in place before December 15. There is no cost to have someone look at it with you, and doing it in November is far easier than doing it in January.