Two States Ruled on 2027 Health Premiums the Same Day. New York Cut a 20.6% Request to 6%. Delaware Approved 17.2%.

On September 4, two state regulators published their decisions on 2027 health insurance premiums. The New York State Department of Financial Services cut what insurers had asked for by roughly two-thirds. Delaware approved most of what its largest marketplace carrier had asked for. Both were exercising the same basic authority — prior approval of rates — and arrived at very different places.

New York

• Individual market: insurers requested 20.6%. DFS approved 6.0%.
• Small group market: insurers requested 23.7%. DFS approved 8.0%.
• DFS put the effect at approximately $1.6 billion in savings — $324 million for individual consumers and $1.25 billion for small businesses.
• Approximately 860,000 New Yorkers are enrolled in individual and small group plans.

The DFS release describes the outcome rather than the method. It does not say how many insurers filed, and it does not comment on the expiry of the federal enhanced premium tax credits.

Delaware

• Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield: requested 20.20%, approved at a 17.20% average, across 16 comprehensive plans and one catastrophic plan.
• AmeriHealth Caritas: approved at a 13.94% average across nine plans.
• Stand-alone dental: Delta Dental approved at a 4.3% average across two plans; Dominion Dental at 5.8% across two plans.
• Off-marketplace small group: Highmark requested a 19.8% increase across 32 plan options.

Delaware's announcement is explicit about cause. It attributes the increases to the expiration of the enhanced Advance Premium Tax Credits, with officials quoted saying that "Federal actions have made health coverage more expensive nationwide, and Delaware is not immune." Members of the state's congressional delegation described the increases as "the obvious result of decisions they made when they pushed through their so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill' and chose to let the Affordable Care Act Enhanced Premium Tax Credits expire."

What a rate decision is and is not

An approved rate is the price of the policy. It is not the price the enrolled household pays. For marketplace enrollees who qualify, premium tax credits sit between the two, and the size of that credit is set in federal law rather than by a state insurance department. A state that holds the approved rate down reduces the gross premium; what happens to the net premium also depends on the subsidy structure in place for that plan year.

Delaware's open enrollment for 2027 coverage begins November 1, 2026.