Health insurance in Alaska
24,225 Alaska residents bought a marketplace plan for 2026. What they were offered depended on which of the state's 13 counties they live in.
Source: CMS Marketplace Open Enrollment Public Use Files and US Census Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, 2026 release. Figures cover the under-65 population.
Where you enroll
Alaska uses the federally facilitated marketplace, so you enroll at HealthCare.gov on the federal calendar — the dates are here.
Alaska has its own federal poverty guidelines, and they are higher than the 48-state figures almost every calculator uses. For a single person the 2026 guideline here is $19,950 rather than $15,960, which puts the top of the subsidy range at $79,800 instead of $63,840. If you have read elsewhere that you earn too much to qualify, check again against the Alaska number.
Medicaid covers the bottom of the range in Alaska
Alaska expanded Medicaid, so there is no coverage gap here: adults under 138% of the poverty guideline — about $27,531 for one person — go to Medicaid rather than falling between it and the subsidy.
63,542 under-65 Alaska residents are uninsured all the same, 12.1% of them — 8th of the 51 states and DC, and 1.2× the 26-state median of 9.9%.
Competition is uniform across Alaska
Every county in Alaska has the same number of insurers selling on the exchange: 2. That is unusual, and it means the question of where you live inside Alaska does not change how much competition you get.
No county in Alaska is down to a single insurer. Since the previous plan year, 13 counties in Alaska gained an insurer and none lost one.
Light marketplace use
24,225 Alaska residents selected a marketplace plan for 2026. Against the state's under-65 population that is 46 per thousand, well below the 26-state median of 79, and 25th highest of the 26 states on this site.
Of those, 4,291 — 18% — were new rather than renewing, which is a fairly typical mix of new and renewing enrollees (4th of 26).
The spread inside Alaska
Anchorage Borough is the largest county we publish here, with 244,532 under-65 residents; Fairbanks North Star Borough is the smallest, with 79,659. Anchorage Borough has 2 insurers offering 15 plans, and Fairbanks North Star Borough has 2 offering 15.
Uninsured rates range from 11.4% in Anchorage Borough to 12.7% in Matanuska-Susitna Borough — 1.1 times as high, within one state.
The 3 largest counties in Alaska
By under-65 population, covering 80% of the state's under-65 residents. Alaska has 13 counties with complete federal data; we publish pages for the largest.
| County | Under 65 | Uninsured | Insurers | Plans | Per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anchorage Borough | 244,532 | 11.4% | 2 | 15 | 43 |
| Matanuska-Susitna Borough | 99,545 | 12.7% | 2 | 15 | 46 |
| Fairbanks North Star Borough | 79,659 | 11.5% | 2 | 15 | 39 |
Source: CMS Marketplace Open Enrollment Public Use Files and US Census Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, 2026 release. "Per 1,000" is marketplace plan selections per thousand under-65 residents.
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