Benchmark $615/mo · +34.6% approved · Georgia Access
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A 40-year-old engineer in Georgia faces a benchmark premium of $615/month for 2026, up from $493 in 2025. That is 2% below the national benchmark of $625. Carriers were approved for an average increase of +34.6%.
Georgia runs its own exchange, Georgia Access, rather than healthcare.gov. CMS therefore excludes it from the Qualified Health Plan Landscape file that powers most of this site, so there is no public plan-by-county premium table for Georgia the way there is for Florida or Texas. What you get instead — approved rate changes, carrier concentration and the benchmark series — comes straight from state filings, and in some ways says more, because these are rates a regulator actually approved rather than rates an insurer filed.
Georgia moved off healthcare.gov to its own exchange, Georgia Access, for plan year 2025. It also posted the largest approved rate increase of the six, at 34.6%.
| Georgia — 2026 | Figure |
|---|---|
| Benchmark premium, age 40 (2026) | $615 |
| Benchmark premium, age 40 (2025) | $493 |
| Year-over-year change | +24.7% |
| Approved average rate increase | +34.6% |
| Versus the national benchmark ($625) | -2% |
| Rank among your 21 licensed states | 11 of 21 |
| Counties | 159 |
| Carriers on the exchange | 8 |
| Exchange | Georgia Access (state-run since 2025) |
Ambetter (Peach State), Alliant, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, CareSource, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente, Oscar.
Alliant is the state’s only PPO carrier on the exchange. Atlanta-area counties such as Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett have five to seven carriers; rural south Georgia counties often have one or two, with Ambetter dominant.
Sources: Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance 2026 rate filings; Georgia Access. KFF, “Marketplace Average Benchmark Premiums,” 2026. Benchmark is the second-lowest-cost Silver plan for a 40-year-old, weighted by plan selections.
Work that crosses county lines makes network geography the binding constraint, not monthly cost.
Occupational context: Sedentary strain; site-visit exposure depending on discipline.
To be clear about what this does and does not affect: a Georgia carrier cannot ask your occupation, cannot charge a engineer more than anyone else of the same age in the same ZIP, and cannot exclude a condition you already have. Occupation only tells you which plan structure to shop for.
Ranked on the benchmark premium, the one measure published on the same basis for every state. Cheaper: South Carolina ($564), Oklahoma ($604), Wisconsin ($611). More expensive: North Carolina ($638), Utah ($640), Alabama ($645).
You buy where you live, not where you work, so treat this as context rather than a shopping list. A genuine move does open a special enrollment period.
Expense categories that typically apply to this trade: PE licensing, software, professional dues, site travel. Health premiums are generally deductible above the line under IRC §162(l) when no employer plan is available to you or a spouse. The deduction lowers your AGI, and AGI sets your premium tax credit, so the two calculate against each other — worth raising with your CPA before you enroll rather than after.
Georgia’s 2026 benchmark premium is $615 a month for a 40-year-old. The national benchmark is $625, so Georgia sits below average.
The 2026 benchmark premium in Georgia is $615 per month for a 40-year-old, up from $493 in 2025. That is full price before premium tax credits; most buyers pay less after subsidies.
Carriers in Georgia were approved for an average increase of 34.6%. Filings across the country cited the expiry of the enhanced federal premium tax credits at the end of 2025, rising medical and drug costs, and expectations that healthier people would drop coverage.
No. Exchange plans are guaranteed issue and community rated. Price varies only by age, ZIP code, tobacco use and household size. Occupation is not a rating factor.
No. Georgia runs its own exchange, Georgia Access, state-operated since 2025. You enrolll there rather than on healthcare.gov.
Above the cliff. At this income a single-person household receives no premium tax credit for 2026 and pays the full premium.
This occupation is above the cliff in all 21 states reported.
What this figure is. It is the median annual wage BLS reports for Industrial Engineers (SOC 17-2112) in Georgia. BLS surveys wage and salary workers and excludes the self-employed, so it is a benchmark for the occupation in this state — not the income of a self-employed engineer. Premium tax credit eligibility is set by household modified adjusted gross income and household size, not by occupation, so treat this as a reference point rather than a determination of what you qualify for.
Why the cliff is back. The enhanced premium tax credits expired on 31 December 2025. For plan year 2026 the 400% FPL limit applies again, so household income above $62,600 ends premium tax credit eligibility outright.
This page compares states. For Georgia specifically — county-level carriers and enrollment help — I publish that on Coverage by County, including a page written for Engineers in Georgia and a blog covering deductibles, subsidies and special enrollment.
Georgia runs its own marketplace rather than healthcare.gov, so 2027 plan and rate detail arrives on the state’s timetable, not in the federal files most comparison sites reprint. For an engineer that makes national round-ups the least reliable place to look.
Rate filings for 2027 point to roughly a 15% median increase nationally, from −1% at one end to 54% at the other. Georgia has not finalised, so treat exact local 2027 pricing as unavailable rather than unknown.
The window opens November 1, 2026, and December 15 is the date worth writing down — it is what secures January 1 cover in Georgia and everywhere else. You will find later dates quoted; they stem from a 2025 rule that was vacated in June 2026 and is under appeal.
Georgia publishes its 2027 plan data on its own schedule rather than in the federal files, so the earlier you get a read on your options the less you are relying on national summaries that may not apply here.
Give me a ZIP and I will tell you three things:
Coverage for Engineers is priced county by county across Georgia. Enter your ZIP and I will show you what is on the table.