Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum: How to Pick a Metal Tier for 2027
What the four Marketplace metal tiers measure, what they do not tell you, and a worked 2027 example of yearly costs at low, medium and high use.
A Marketplace plan's metal tier tells you one thing: roughly how the plan splits the cost of covered care with you. Bronze plans pay about 60% on average, Silver about 70%, Gold about 80% and Platinum about 90%. The useful way to compare tiers is total yearly cost at the amount of care you expect to use.
That split is an average across a standard population, not a promise about your own bills. The tier says nothing about which doctors are in the network or how good the care is. Open enrollment for 2027 coverage on HealthCare.gov runs from November 1, 2026 to January 15, 2027. A plan picked by December 15, 2026 starts on January 1, 2027, once the first premium is paid.
Key takeaways
- The four tiers are set by actuarial value: about 60% (Bronze), 70% (Silver), 80% (Gold) and 90% (Platinum) of average covered costs.
- Whatever its tier, every 2027 Marketplace plan must cap what you pay for covered in-network care at no more than $12,000 for one person or $24,000 for a family.
- A higher tier usually means higher premiums and lower costs when you get care. It does not mean better doctors, a wider network or higher quality.
- If your income is between 100% and 250% of the federal poverty level, a Silver plan can come with cost-sharing reductions. Up to 200% of the poverty level, they raise the plan's actuarial value to 87% or 94%, above a Gold plan's 80%.
- Compare plans by premiums plus expected out-of-pocket costs at low, expected and worst-case use, not by premium alone.
What the metal tier actually measures
Each tier is set by a plan's actuarial value, a calculation of what share of covered costs the plan would pay for a standard group of enrollees. A plan with a 70% actuarial value pays, on average, 70% of covered costs, and its enrollees pay the other 30% through deductibles, copays and coinsurance. A deductible is what you pay each year before the plan starts paying for most services. A copay is a fixed fee per service, and coinsurance is a percentage of the bill you pay after the deductible.
Insurers do not have to hit the target exactly. For plan year 2027, CMS allows each tier a small range, and these ranges are the same as for 2026. A 2025 federal rule would have widened them. A federal court in Maryland blocked that change and later set it aside. The government's appeal was still pending in October 2026, so the ranges could change for later plan years.
| Tier | Target actuarial value | Allowed range for 2027 (individual market) |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 60% | 58% to 62% (up to 65% for "expanded bronze" plans that cover at least one major service other than preventive care before the deductible, or that meet the federal definition of a high-deductible health plan) |
| Silver | 70% | 70% to 72% |
| Gold | 80% | 78% to 82% |
| Platinum | 90% | 88% to 92% |
The tier also sits under a hard ceiling. For plan year 2027, no Marketplace plan can make you pay more than $12,000 in a year for in-network covered care for one person, or $24,000 for a family (the 2026 limits are $10,600 and $21,200). A 2027 federal rule would have let individual-market Bronze plans go above that limit, up to $15,600 for one person. A federal court in Maryland stayed that provision on July 16, 2026, while the lawsuit continues, so it has not taken effect as finalized. The limit counts only covered care from in-network providers. Premiums, services the plan does not cover, out-of-network care and any amount a provider bills above the plan's allowed amount do not count toward it.
What the tier does not tell you
HealthCare.gov says a plan's category has no connection to the quality of care it provides. Three things vary inside every tier:
- The network. Whether a plan is an HMO, PPO, EPO or POS, and which doctors and hospitals it includes, is separate from its metal level. Two Gold plans in the same county can have different networks. Our guide to HMO, PPO, EPO and POS network types explains the trade-offs.
- The drug list. Each plan has its own list of covered drugs, so a medicine covered by one Silver plan may not be covered the same way by another.
- How the cost sharing is arranged. One Silver plan may have a high deductible and low copays; another may have a lower deductible and higher coinsurance. Both can reach the same actuarial value.
Whatever the tier, a Marketplace plan has to cover the 10 categories of essential health benefits, and preventive services are one of them. Quality is measured separately: HealthCare.gov rates plans from 1 to 5 stars.
The Silver exception: cost-sharing reductions
Silver is the only tier whose cost sharing can change with your income, apart from separate rules for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Three things together unlock cost-sharing reductions: household income between 100% and 250% of the federal poverty level, eligibility for the premium tax credit, and enrollment in a Silver plan. The reductions put you in a Silver plan variant with a lower deductible, lower copays and a lower out-of-pocket maximum. The variants have actuarial values of 94%, 87% or 73%, and the lower your income, the higher the value. For 2027 coverage, 250% of the poverty level is $39,900 for one person and $82,500 for a family of four in the 48 contiguous states and DC (the figures are higher in Alaska and Hawaii). You only get these extra savings in a Silver plan. Our guide to cost-sharing reductions covers the income bands and when Silver beats Gold.
The premium tax credit, which lowers your monthly premium, is different. You can use it on a plan in any metal tier. Its size is based on the premium of the second-lowest-cost Silver plan in your area minus a set percentage of your income, but the credit cannot exceed the premium of the plan you actually pick. For 2027 coverage, the credit is generally available only with household income between 100% and 400% of the poverty level, because the temporary expansion above 400% ended after the 2025 tax year.
A worked example: one year at three levels of use
The only way to compare tiers fairly is to add the premiums you pay all year to what you would pay when you use care. The example below keeps the plan designs simple: you pay all covered costs until the deductible, then a share (coinsurance) until you hit the out-of-pocket maximum, after which the plan pays everything for covered in-network care. Preventive care is free on all four plans and is left out.
Example: One adult is comparing four 2027 plans. The premiums, deductibles, coinsurance rates and out-of-pocket maximums below are illustrative, and the premiums are what this person would pay after any tax credit. Every out-of-pocket maximum is within the 2027 legal limit of $12,000 for one person.
| Plan | Yearly premium | Deductible | Coinsurance after deductible | Out-of-pocket maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | $4,800 | $7,500 | 40% | $10,500 |
| Silver | $6,000 | $4,500 | 25% | $9,000 |
| Gold | $7,200 | $1,500 | 20% | $7,000 |
| Platinum | $9,300 | $500 | 10% | $3,500 |
Now apply three different years of care: low use ($1,000 of covered bills), medium use ($10,000) and high use ($50,000, such as a surgery and hospital stay). Each figure is the yearly premium plus what the person pays out of pocket.
| Plan | Low use ($1,000 of care) | Medium use ($10,000) | High use ($50,000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | $5,800 | $13,300 | $15,300 |
| Silver | $7,000 | $11,875 | $15,000 |
| Gold | $8,200 | $10,400 | $14,200 |
| Platinum | $9,850 | $10,750 | $12,800 |
How the medium-use figures work: on Bronze, the person pays the $7,500 deductible plus 40% of the remaining $2,500 ($1,000), so $8,500 out of pocket plus $4,800 in premiums. On Gold, they pay the $1,500 deductible plus 20% of $8,500 ($1,700), so $3,200 plus $7,200. At high use, every plan hits its out-of-pocket maximum, so the total is simply premium plus maximum.
Three lessons come out of these numbers:
- Bronze wins in a quiet year. Here, Gold becomes cheaper than Bronze once covered bills pass $4,500, because above that point Gold's lower cost sharing more than repays its $2,400 higher premium.
- Platinum wins in a heavy year. In this example Platinum overtakes Gold once covered bills pass $13,500.
- Silver is never the cheapest here. Without cost-sharing reductions, a Silver plan with a high deductible can sit between Bronze and Gold without winning at any level of use. That will not be true everywhere, which is why the comparison has to be run with real quotes.
The worst-case column matters as much as the expected one. If you could not pay a $10,500 bill, Bronze's low premium is buying you a risk you cannot carry. Our guide to comparing plans by total yearly cost turns this into a repeatable method.
Decision rules for each tier
- Bronze tends to cost least if you expect little care beyond checkups and could pay the deductible from savings. Since January 1, 2026, a Bronze plan available as individual coverage through a Marketplace counts as a high-deductible health plan for health savings account (HSA) purposes. The 2027 HSA contribution limit is $4,500 for self-only coverage and $9,000 for family coverage. HSA contributions go in before tax, so paying bills from the account lowers the after-tax cost of a heavy year.
- Silver is often hard to beat if your income is between 100% and 200% of the poverty level, where cost-sharing reductions raise its actuarial value to 87% or 94%. Between 200% and 250% the boost is smaller (73%), and above 250% there is none, so run the numbers against Bronze and Gold.
- Gold often costs less overall if you expect regular care, such as ongoing prescriptions, specialist visits or a planned procedure. In the example above, Gold overtook Bronze at $4,500 of covered bills.
- Platinum tends to pay off only when you expect heavy use and the premium gap to Gold is smaller than the out-of-pocket savings.
- Catastrophic plans are a fifth category open only to people under 30 or with an exemption. See who can buy a catastrophic plan.
Before committing, check that your doctors, hospitals and drugs are covered in network. A tier that wins on paper loses if the plan does not cover the doctor you see every month.
Frequently asked questions
Does a Gold or Platinum plan mean better doctors?
No. The metal tier describes how costs are shared, not the quality of care or the size of the network. Check the provider directory and each plan's 1-to-5 star rating instead.
Can the premium tax credit be used on a Gold or Platinum plan?
Yes. The premium tax credit can be applied to a plan in any metal tier. It is based on the second-lowest-cost Silver plan in your area, and it cannot exceed the premium of the plan you choose. It cannot be used on a catastrophic plan.
Do all plans in the same tier have the same deductible?
No. Insurers can reach the same actuarial value with different mixes of deductibles, copays and coinsurance, so plans in the same tier can have very different deductibles. Compare the full cost-sharing details of each plan.
Can a Bronze plan have an out-of-pocket maximum above $12,000 in 2027?
Not under the rules in force in October 2026. A 2027 rule would have allowed individual-market Bronze plans to go up to $15,600 for one person, but a federal court stayed that provision on July 16, 2026, while the lawsuit continues. For now the 2027 limit of $12,000 for one person and $24,000 for a family applies to every Marketplace plan.
Is it possible to switch tiers during the year?
Generally only during open enrollment, which runs November 1, 2026 to January 15, 2027 on HealthCare.gov, or if you qualify for a special enrollment period. One example: someone on a Silver plan who loses cost-sharing reductions gets a special enrollment period and can move to a Bronze, Silver or Gold plan.
Sources
- Health plan categories: Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum (HealthCare.gov)
- 3 things to know before you pick a health insurance plan (HealthCare.gov)
- Out-of-pocket maximum/limit (HealthCare.gov)
- Final 2027 Actuarial Value Calculator Methodology (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
- Federal poverty level (FPL) (HealthCare.gov)
- Statement Regarding City of Columbus v. Kennedy, July 31, 2026 (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
- Questions and answers on the premium tax credit (Internal Revenue Service)
- Cost-sharing reductions (HealthCare.gov)