ARIZONA · 15 COUNTIES · 2027 FILINGS · SEPTEMBER 2026
What does employer health coverage cost in Arizona?
Arizona filed the steepest marketplace increase in the country for 2027: 28.6%.
And there is no PPO or POS plan filed in any of the 15 counties, so out-of-network coverage isn't purchasable in Arizona at any price. Steepest increase in the country, and the narrowest networks. Both facts matter before you touch your plan.
Arizona, by the filings
What did insurers actually file for Arizona?
Every figure below comes from the filings insurers submitted to regulators. 2027 numbers are requested, not approved. Approvals land in October.
| Arizona | Figure | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 requested change, marketplace plans | +28.6% +3.3% to +33.9% across 7 insurers | Steepest in the country. The national median is 15.3%. |
| 2027 requested change, employer group plans | +20.5% +10.3% to +34.5% across 9 insurers | Also well above the 14.5% national median. There is no cheap door in Arizona this year. |
| 2026 approved change | +33.8% marketplace +11.8% group | Compounded with 2027, marketplace plans are up roughly 72% on 2025. |
| Lowest cost silver plan, age 40, typical county | $706 per month $438 to $1,029 across counties | A $591 spread between the cheapest and dearest county. Size any contribution by county, not once for the company. |
| Counties with a PPO or POS plan filed | 0 of 15 | Out-of-network coverage is not purchasable anywhere in Arizona at any price. Every marketplace plan is an HMO. |
| Typical county, lowest cost silver by plan type | $706 HMO · no PPO | There is no PPO price to compare, because no insurer files one. |
| Marketplace vs group cost per member per month, 2026 | $769 marketplace $708 group | Group costs less per member here. Arizona is not one of the 22 states where marketplace wins on price. |
| Insurers competing per county | 1 to 7 | Maricopa has real competition. At least one rural county has a single insurer and no competition on price. |
What it means for an Arizona employer
Worst rate increase in the country, and the narrowest networks. Now what?
Arizona is the hardest state in the country to solve with a plan-type change alone. Marketplace asked for 28.6%, group asked for 20.5%, and moving people to marketplace plans moves every one of them to an HMO with no out-of-network option.
The Arizona-specific read: if anyone on your plan sees a specialist outside the network today, a CHOICE Arrangement ends that. Not reduces it, ends it, because no insurer files a PPO or POS plan in any Arizona county. Before you price anything, find out how many of your people are actually using out-of-network care. If the answer is close to zero, Arizona's HMO-only market stops being a problem and a CHOICE Arrangement becomes viable. If it isn't, look at level funding or a shelf-rated plan with a national network instead.
Where the money actually is at these rates: not the plan type, the design changes inside it. Sourcing 2,000+ medications at a $0 copay for the whole household. Unlimited virtual primary and behavioral care so a $0 visit replaces an urgent care trip, which matters more in an HMO-only state where access is already tight. A supplemental layer that pays the employer back every pay period instead of adding a line item.
Those have landed at $2,000+ per employee per year in real client projects, with about $988 per employee per year in new cashflow on top of that and independent of it. About $100K per year for every 50 people. $0 upfront, billed out of savings, live in 30 to 45 days. Same broker, same doctors, same cards.
Compare the 12 plan designs · All 50 states and DC · PPO availability by county · Benchmark your cost
Results vary by group size, plan design, and utilization.
Where these Arizona numbers come from
Rate changes are the midpoint of what each insurer requested in Arizona, from the CMS rate review service, pulled September 17, 2026. 2027 figures are proposed and still under review; regulators can trim them before approvals land in October. County premiums are the lowest cost plan per metal level for a 40-year-old non-smoker before any subsidy, from the CMS marketplace plan and rate files for plan year 2026, covering all 15 Arizona counties.
The marketplace versus group cost comparison uses the 2026 average premium per member per month from the insurers' own filings on both sides, weighted by enrollment. It is an average across each plan's enrolled mix, not a same-metal, same-plan-type quote. PPO availability counts every plan filed in every Arizona county and asks whether any of them is a PPO or POS; HMO includes EPO and PPO includes POS, because the split that matters is whether a doctor outside the network is covered at all. This covers marketplace plans. A plan sold off the marketplace may exist and is not in these files.
Nothing here is a quote.
