2026 ACA Open Enrollment: Income Projection Mistakes to Avoid

As we get ready for the 2026 open enrollment period, which goes from November 1st to December 15th of 2025 for the 2026 plan year in the Affordable Care Act, let me tell you one of the biggest mistakes most people make when they try to navigate the system on their own. As you deal with your household income and you answer the household income questions going through the application through healthcare. gov, what most people don't recognize is that number is supposed to be a projection of what you think you're going to make as a household in plan year 2026. That number has nothing to do with what you've made in 2025, but what you think you're going to make in 2026.

So the problem people wind up in is they will use the wrong income projection, have an income increase in 2026, but still use 2025's number that may be much lower. What happens at the end of the plan year, so in April of 2027, when a person files their taxes and Uncle Sam finds out that the projection that person used was much lower than the income they actually generated, Uncle Sam will say, wait a minute, I gave you too much money in federal subsidies and they will keep that money out of your tax return. And there have been countless people who have gotten to their tax return and realized that money they expected to get during the tax season to help pay for the things they wanted to pay for, all of a sudden was gone because they misapplied how to properly do subsidies when they made their projections for that upcoming plan year. So if you decide that you're going to do the Affordable Care Act without any professional help, make sure that you get the income projections as accurate as possible to make sure you stay out of trouble when you do your taxes for that same plan year.