Health insurance brokers in Massachusetts

• 403,624people enrolled through the Health Connector during open enrollment for 2026, a record
• $250 millionin state money added to heavily subsidized Connector plans after the federal tax credits expired
• $0what it costs you to talk through your Massachusetts options with a broker

In Massachusetts, coverage is the law

Massachusetts required residents to have health insurance before the ACA existed, and it still does. If you go without qualifying coverage, the cost can show up as a penalty on your state tax return. So in Massachusetts the question is rarely whether to be covered. It is which coverage, and whether you are getting every dollar of help you are entitled to.

That help is unusually generous here. On top of federal premium tax credits, Massachusetts runs its own subsidized plans called ConnectorCare, sold only through the Health Connector. When the enhanced federal tax credits expired at the end of 2025, the Healey administration added $250 million to keep those heavily subsidized plans affordable, and most enrollees up to 400 percent of the poverty level saw little or no change. ConnectorCare requires federal premium tax credit eligibility, so it is not available above 400 percent of the poverty level.

Massachusetts also merges its individual and small group markets, so a carrier's rate change applies to both. If you own a small business and also buy for your own household, the same price movements reach you twice.

Record sign ups, softer staying power

403,624 people enrolled through the Health Connector during open enrollment for 2026, a record. Effectuated enrollment, the people who actually paid and had coverage in force in February, was 338,197, almost 4 percent lower than a year earlier. KFF put Massachusetts among the states where plan selections rose modestly while effectuated enrollment slipped. The gap between picking a plan and keeping it is where the work is.

What changes for 2027

A few carriers are also pulling back without leaving entirely. Fallon Health is shrinking its service area to central Massachusetts, affecting about 15,200 enrollees, and Tufts Direct is leaving Berkshire County, affecting about 4,800. If either describes your plan, your renewal notice is a decision, not a formality.

Prices are rising too. The Division of Insurance approved an average increase of 10.4 percent for the merged market, and for unsubsidized individual plans the average increase is about 12.4 percent once you account for members getting a year older.

Open enrollment dates for 2027 coverage in Massachusetts

Massachusetts runs its own exchange, so the Health Connector sets its own calendar, and this year it started early. Open enrollment for 2027 is open now.

• October 23, 2026Open enrollment for 2027 began on the Massachusetts Health Connector
• December 23, 2026Enroll by this date for coverage starting January 1, 2027
• January 23, 2027Open enrollment closes. Enrollments from December 24 on start February 1, 2027

Outside that window you need a qualifying life event, such as losing job based coverage, marriage, a new baby, or a move, which usually opens a 60 day special enrollment period through the Health Connector. Separately, MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program, takes applications all year. If your income has dropped, check MassHealth first, because that answer may cost you nothing at all.

Every 2027 change in Massachusetts, carrier by carrier →

How to choose a health insurance broker in Massachusetts

Anyone can put "broker" on a website. These are the questions that separate the real ones, and you can ask every one of them in a five minute phone call.

1. Verify the license before anything else

   Ask for the license number and the NPN, then look them up yourself. Massachusetts agents can be checked through the Massachusetts Division of Insurance licensee lookup, and every agent in the country is searchable through the NAIC lookup. An agent who hesitates to give you those numbers has told you everything you need to know. Mine are on this page and on my license page.

2. Ask whether they are independent or captive

   A captive agent works for one insurance company and can only sell you that company's plans. An independent broker is appointed with many carriers and compares across them. Neither is dishonest, but only one of them can tell you when a competitor has the better plan for you.

3. Ask what it costs, and be suspicious of any answer other than nothing

   Brokers are paid by the insurance carriers. The premium is identical whether you enroll through a broker, on your own, or directly with the carrier. Nobody should charge you a fee to enroll you in an individual marketplace plan.

4. Ask how many carriers they can actually quote

   "We shop the whole market" is a slogan until someone puts a number on it. Ask which carriers they are appointed with in Massachusetts, and ask them to show you the comparison rather than describe it.

5. Ask whether they will still be there in March

   Plenty of agents are enthusiastic in December and unreachable in the spring, which is exactly when a claim gets denied or a doctor turns out to be out of network. Ask who you call when something goes wrong. The answer should be a person, not a call center.

6. Read the reviews, and look at the dates

   A handful of genuine reviews spread over time tells you more than a wall of them that all landed in the same week. Mine are on my Google profile and they arrived one at a time, from clients who agreed to write one.

What working with me looks like

You tell me your ZIP code, who needs coverage, and roughly what you expect to earn this year. I check whether you are likely to qualify for financial help, then walk you through the options that fit, including coverage sold outside the state exchange. If a plan through the state exchange is the right answer for you, I will say so plainly and point you to a certified helper there, since that is the door to any subsidy. For coverage I can place directly, I handle the enrollment paperwork and stay your point of contact afterward.

Most first conversations take about ten minutes. There is no cost and no obligation, and I am not going to pressure you into a plan, because a client who was pushed into the wrong coverage is a client who leaves.

Where I work in Massachusetts

Statewide. Most of my work happens over the phone or a video call, so where you are in Massachusetts changes nothing about the process.

• Boston
• Worcester
• Springfield
• Cambridge
• Lowell
• Brockton
• Quincy
• Lynn
• New Bedford
• Fall River
• Newton
• Lawrence
• Somerville
• Framingham
• Haverhill
• Waltham
• Plymouth
• Pittsfield
• Barnstable
• Northampton

I am also licensed in every other state, so if you are moving or splitting time between two states, that usually is not a problem either.

Who I help most in Massachusetts

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 2.8 percent of people in Massachusetts had no health insurance in 2024, below the national rate of 8.2 percent.

Individuals and families buying their own coverage, self employed people and 1099 contractors, small business owners in the merged market, people who just lost employer coverage, and early retirees bridging the gap to Medicare. In Massachusetts I also spend time with people whose immigration status changes their subsidy eligibility for 2027, so they understand their options before January, not after.