How to Use the HealthCare.gov Window Shopping Tool to Preview Your 2027 ACA Plan Options Before November 1 Open Enrollment
By HealthCalc Team
Published October 28, 2026
10 min read
Open Enrollment for 2027 ACA Marketplace plans opens Sunday, November 1, 2026 — four days from today. The small, consistent mistake that costs households the most money on day one of OEP is going to the marketplace cold, logging in with no idea what the 2027 plans in your zip code look like, and either rushing a selection or giving up and letting auto-reenrollment pick for you.
There is a better way, and it has been available since October 15. HealthCare.gov's Window Shopping tool lets you preview every 2027 Marketplace plan available at your address, with the approved premium and an estimated subsidy, without creating an account, without entering your Social Security number, and without any pressure to enroll. For the 2026 plan year, the preview window was used by only about 22 percent of eventual enrollees; the other 78 percent walked into OEP without having seen a single plan. If you were one of them last year, this guide is how not to be one of them this year.
This walkthrough covers what Window Shopping is, how to access it in under two minutes, what each number on the preview page actually means (the benchmark premium, the applicable percentage, the subsidy, and the net premium), the three red flags to catch while you have time to react, and the short list to assemble so that your November 1 experience is 15 minutes of confirming a decision instead of two hours of browsing from scratch.
What Window Shopping Actually Is
Window Shopping is a dedicated preview section of HealthCare.gov at healthcare.gov/see-plans. It is distinct from the main HealthCare.gov enrollment flow. Three features define it:
- No account required. You enter your zip code, household size, projected 2027 modified adjusted gross income, and the ages and tobacco status of each person who needs coverage. Nothing is stored, nothing is linked to a Social Security number, and nothing commits you to a plan.
- All approved 2027 plans are shown. Every plan a 2027-licensed carrier is selling in your rating area appears in the results, filtered by metal tier (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Catastrophic), plan type (HMO, PPO, EPO, POS), carrier, deductible, and out-of-pocket maximum. The approved 2027 premiums — the ones state regulators signed off on in September and October — are the figures you see.
- Estimated subsidy, not confirmed. Window Shopping runs an estimate of your Advance Premium Tax Credit (APTC) based on the income you enter and the federal poverty level for your household size. The estimate uses the current statutory rules, which for 2027 is the pre-2021 applicable-percentage schedule with the 400% FPL cliff in effect. If Congress extends the enhanced premium tax credits after November 1, HealthCare.gov will update the subsidy figures retroactively. Treat the Window Shopping estimate as the planning number for now.
What Window Shopping is not: an application. You cannot select a plan from it, and you cannot carry a selection into an enrollment on November 1 — you will have to find the plan again inside the enrollment flow. The point is reconnaissance, not commitment.
The Four-Step Walkthrough
1Open Window Shopping and enter your zip code
Go to healthcare.gov/see-plans directly (not to the main HealthCare.gov homepage, which pushes you toward account creation). You will be asked for a zip code and a county if your zip crosses county boundaries. Rating areas — the geographic unit the ACA uses to set premiums — are county-level, so pick the correct county on this screen or every subsequent number will be wrong.
2Enter household size and projected 2027 MAGI
Household size here is tax household size, not residential household size. It is you, your spouse if you file jointly, and anyone you claim as a tax dependent on your 2027 federal return — whether they live with you or not, and whether they are enrolling in a plan or not. The projected 2027 MAGI is adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt Social Security, tax-exempt interest, and tax-exempt foreign-earned income. If you are not sure what to project, start with the 2026 figure from your most recent pay stubs or Q3 Schedule C numbers and adjust for known 2027 changes.
The ACA Subsidy Calculator → runs the same math as Window Shopping and lets you test projection ranges without re-entering everything on HealthCare.gov each time.
3Enter each enrollee's age and tobacco status
Age is the age on the enrollment start date (January 1, 2027 for a plan selected by December 15). Tobacco use is the honest answer; carriers can charge up to 50% more for a tobacco user, and misrepresenting it is grounds for rescission of coverage. If one enrollee smokes and another does not, enter them separately with their correct statuses — the surcharge is per person, not household.
4Review the plan list and filter
Window Shopping returns the full list sorted by net premium by default. Across the top are four controls that matter: metal tier filter, deductible filter, out-of-pocket maximum filter, and HSA-eligible filter. The two most useful first moves: filter to the same metal tier as your 2026 plan (to see like-for-like 2027 pricing), then sort by provider network match if the directory data is available in your state. Click any plan to see premium, subsidy, net premium, deductible, out-of-pocket max, copay structure, provider directory link, and formulary link.
Reading the Numbers on a 2027 Plan Preview
Every plan card shows the same five figures. Here is what each one means under the 2027 rules.
| Figure | What It Is | Where It Comes From |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly premium | The sticker price before any subsidy | State regulator approval of the carrier's filed rate |
| Benchmark Silver | The second-lowest-cost Silver plan in your rating area; the figure your subsidy is calculated against | Determined by HealthCare.gov from all approved 2027 Silver rates in your county |
| Expected contribution | What the ACA formula says you should pay for the benchmark Silver plan given your income | Projected 2027 MAGI as a percentage of FPL, applied to the pre-2021 applicable-percentage schedule |
| Estimated subsidy (APTC) | Benchmark Silver premium minus expected contribution | Floored at zero: no subsidy above 400% FPL under 2027 rules |
| Net monthly premium | The plan's premium minus your estimated subsidy | Can be more or less than the expected contribution, depending on whether you choose the benchmark Silver, something cheaper, or something richer |
Two often-missed consequences of this structure.
First, the subsidy is tied to the benchmark Silver, not to the plan you pick. If you pick a Bronze plan that costs less than the benchmark Silver, the subsidy covers more of your net premium — some Bronze plans run $0 net for lower-income enrollees. If you pick a Gold plan, you pay the Gold premium minus the (fixed) Silver-based subsidy, so Gold is more expensive than Silver by the full premium gap. The subsidy does not scale with the plan you pick.
Second, the 400% FPL cliff is a hard edge. At $62,599 projected MAGI for a single-person household (just under 400% of the 2026 FPL figure of $15,650 that governs 2027 enrollment), your expected contribution is capped at 9.83% of income and your subsidy covers everything above that. At $62,601, your subsidy is zero and you pay the full premium. The returning cliff is why Window Shopping is especially valuable near 400% FPL: a $200 difference in projection can mean a $300 to $600 difference in monthly net premium.
Three Red Flags to Catch Before November 1
Red Flag 1: Your current plan is in the "replaced by" category
Carriers are allowed to retire plans between plan years. When a 2026 plan is retired, the marketplace maps enrollees to a successor plan from the same carrier — sometimes a close match, sometimes not. If you look up your current plan in Window Shopping and HealthCare.gov displays "This plan is no longer offered for 2027; enrollees will be moved to [replacement plan]," read the replacement plan's details carefully. Common issues: a new deductible significantly higher than yours, a narrower provider network, a different formulary that moves one of your medications to a non-covered tier, or a reclassification from PPO to HMO. If any of these apply, auto-reenrollment is actively harmful and you need to pick a plan yourself.
Red Flag 2: Your projected income lands within 15% of the 400% FPL cliff
If your projected 2027 MAGI is between about 385% and 415% of FPL ($60,250 to $64,950 for a single-person household, using the 2026 FPL that governs 2027 enrollment), Window Shopping will show a net premium that is extremely sensitive to small income changes. On one side of the cliff you pay 9.83% of income; on the other side you pay the full premium. The move: run Window Shopping at your current projection, then run it again $500 above and $500 below. If the net premium swings by more than $150 a month between those scenarios, you are near the cliff and need to decide now whether a MAGI reduction maneuver (HSA contribution, traditional 401(k) catch-up, deductible self-employment expenses) is on the table for 2027.
Red Flag 3: Your prescriptions are not on the preview formulary
Each 2027 plan card in Window Shopping links to the carrier's 2027 drug formulary. Pull your prescription list and check each one. Three things to look for: coverage status (covered vs. excluded), tier (generic, preferred brand, non-preferred brand, specialty), and any prior-authorization or step-therapy requirements. A drug moved from Tier 2 to Tier 4 can mean a copay going from $15 to $200. A drug moved to "not covered" or newly subject to step therapy that your prescriber has not pre-cleared can mean a January 1 scramble.
What Window Shopping Cannot Do
Three limits to know before you rely on the preview too heavily.
It will not give you the formal subsidy figure. The subsidy in Window Shopping is an estimate based on the MAGI you type in. The actual subsidy at enrollment is calculated after the marketplace runs IRS and SSA data matching. If your filed 2024 or 2025 tax MAGI is more than 10 percent higher than what you enter, HealthCare.gov will flag it on November 1 and ask for documentation, which can slow enrollment by 30 to 90 days.
It will not catch a Family Glitch fix situation accurately. If a spouse or dependent has an employer offer that is unaffordable under the current Family Glitch fix definition, the preview may or may not route you to a subsidy — the question is settled in the formal application. If this is your situation, Window Shopping gives you the ceiling (what subsidy would apply if family glitch coverage is confirmed) rather than a sure figure.
It will not account for Cost-Sharing Reductions until you file an application. If your projected 2027 MAGI is between 100% and 250% of FPL and you pick a Silver plan, you are entitled to a Cost-Sharing Reduction (CSR) variant with a lower deductible and lower out-of-pocket maximum. Window Shopping shows the standard Silver's deductible and OOP max; the actual CSR Silver variant is revealed only after you file an application. If you are in the CSR income band, your actual out-of-pocket exposure is lower than Window Shopping shows — sometimes dramatically.
Build Your November 1 Short List
The output of a 45-minute Window Shopping session should be a short, specific list that you bring to day one of OEP. The list has five columns and three to four rows.
| Plan | 2027 Net Premium | Deductible / OOP Max | Doctors in Network | Prescriptions on Formulary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your current plan (2027 version) | From preview | From preview | Verify by phone | Check formulary PDF |
| Cheapest same-metal alternative | From preview | From preview | Verify by phone | Check formulary PDF |
| One tier up (if gap is narrow) | From preview | From preview | Verify by phone | Check formulary PDF |
With this list in hand, your November 1 session is: log in, confirm the application income matches your projection, run the formal subsidy calculation, and select from the list. If the formal subsidy matches your estimate within a few dollars, your cheapest-same-metal alternative is almost always the pick.
Run your own 2027 math alongside the HealthCare.gov preview with the ACA Subsidy Calculator → and the Plan Cost Comparison Calculator →, which test the Silver-vs-Bronze and Silver-vs-Gold trade-offs for your household so you know whether the metal-tier change on your short list is actually worth the premium gap.
Timeline: Four Days to Open Enrollment
Here is the compressed schedule from today, October 28, 2026, through the first week of OEP.
- Wednesday, October 28 (today): 20 minutes in Window Shopping to see the shape of the 2027 options in your zip code. Note your current plan's 2027 net premium.
- Thursday, October 29: Call the billing office of each of your top two or three doctors; ask whether they are contracted for the 2027 plan year on each of your short-list plans. Record the names and dates.
- Friday, October 30: Pull each short-list plan's 2027 formulary PDF (links are in the Window Shopping plan detail page). Check your prescription list against each one.
- Saturday, October 31: Finalize your short list and MAGI projection. If you are near the 400% cliff, make the MAGI-reduction decision today, before OEP opens.
- Sunday, November 1: OEP opens at 12:01 AM ET. Log in, confirm or update the application, run the formal subsidy, select your plan. For a January 1 effective date, the hard deadline is December 15; after that you default to a February 1 start if you select by January 15.
If Congress Passes an Enhanced-PTC Extension After November 1
As of October 28, 2026, the enhanced premium tax credits have not been extended for 2027. The House is reportedly weighing a three-year extension, but no vote has been scheduled. If an extension passes between November 1, 2026 and January 15, 2027, HealthCare.gov has committed to retroactive subsidy updates and push notifications to affected enrollees.
Practically: do not wait. Pick a plan that is defensible under current rules, submit by December 15 for a January 1 effective date, and re-shop between December 15 and January 15 if an extension changes your subsidy. The downside of over-caution (waiting for Congress and missing December 15, defaulting to a February 1 start) is far worse than the downside of selecting on November 1 and switching plans mid-OEP if the law changes. Window Shopping stays open throughout OEP, so you can rerun the comparison the day an extension passes with the new subsidy figures reflected.