New Mexico's Obamacare premiums are jumping 24% for 2027

Health insurance that New Mexicans buy on their own, not through a job, is about to cost a lot more. The state’s insurance regulator approved an average 24.4% rate increase for 2027 individual marketplace plans sold through BeWell, New Mexico’s health exchange, well above this year’s 15% nationwide median, the regulator says.

How much of that lands on an actual bill depends on which of the state’s four insurers a shopper has. A Ledger review of the state’s own rate filings for Albuquerque found the increase isn’t spread evenly at all. Presbyterian Health Plan’s plans are going up the least. Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico’s and Molina’s plans are going up roughly 80% faster than Presbyterian’s.

The state’s own benchmark for calculating subsidies shows the same pattern. It’s the second-cheapest “silver” plan sold in Albuquerque, and for a 40-year-old it will run $642 a month in 2027, up from $582 this year. That’s about 10%, less than half the statewide average, because the benchmark happens to be a Presbyterian plan.

Insurers have to show their math to regulators, and it points to the same split. Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico’s filing blames worse-than-expected 2025 medical claims for the largest share of its increase, plus ordinary cost growth. Presbyterian’s filing points to the same rising claims, but expects bigger rebates from drug manufacturers to soften the hit. Statewide, the regulator says brand-name drugs make up 85% of what New Mexico spends on prescriptions, and their prices keep climbing.

Not everyone will pay the sticker price. New Mexico’s insurance office says 92% of BeWell shoppers are eligible for subsidies tied to their income, and the state built its own fund to keep covering what federal tax credits no longer will. New Mexico’s Legislature strengthened that fund’s financing during this year’s session, and the money is committed through June 30, 2027, covering at least the first half of next year’s plans.

An analysis the state’s insurance office commissioned for this year’s plans shows how much that fund is absorbing. A three-person Albuquerque household earning about $81,000 could get a Turquoise plan, which carries extra state-funded savings on deductibles and copays, for $249 a month with the state’s help, or $559 without it. That comparison was built for 2026 coverage, not 2027.

Open enrollment for 2027 plans runs Nov. 1 through Jan. 15, and the new rates take effect Jan. 1. Because the increase varies so much by company, a shopper who stays on the same plan without checking could end up paying far more than one who compares Presbyterian’s and Blue Cross’s prices side by side.