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A subsidy amount that was accurate in January can be wrong by summer if your income, household size, or the benchmark plan in your county changed. Here’s how to check before it becomes a surprise at tax time.
Published June 17, 2026 · By Tom Wertish, Options.Health
If your MNsure subsidy looks smaller this year, or disappeared entirely, there’s a real, specific reason — not just routine year-to-year drift. The enhanced subsidies that expanded eligibility from 2021 through 2025 expired at the end of last year, and 2026 reverted to older, stricter rules. Here’s what actually changed and how to check your own number.
From 2021 through 2025, temporary federal enhancements removed the income cap on subsidy eligibility entirely and capped what anyone paid at 8.5% of income for a benchmark plan. Those enhancements expired at the end of 2025. For 2026, the original, pre-2021 rules are back in place: subsidy eligibility generally runs from 100% to 400% of the federal poverty level, with nothing above that ceiling — regardless of how affordable the plan would otherwise be.
That 400% cutoff matters most for households who got used to receiving a subsidy the past few years. For Minnesota, that ceiling lands around $62,000 a year for an individual, or about $84,000 for a couple. Cross above that line, and your subsidy doesn’t just shrink — it goes to zero, all at once, rather than phasing out gradually.
MNsure itself has estimated that roughly 90,000 Minnesotans will pay more for coverage this year, averaging about $177 more per month, largely tied to this change.
Your subsidy amount is calculated against the second-lowest-cost Silver plan available in your specific county — the “benchmark plan.” If that benchmark plan’s price moved in your area, your subsidy moves with it, even if your income and household size stayed exactly the same.
The only way to know for certain is to run your actual income, household size, and county through a current calculation rather than assuming last year’s number still applies. Our MNsure Subsidy Calculator gives you a quick estimate, and if open enrollment for 2027 coverage is on your radar, see our related post on what to prepare before November 1.
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No 1-800 numbers and no online quote mills — just licensed Minnesota agents out of our Chaska office who pick up the phone when your plan changes and actually remember your name.
