AEP 2026 and ACA Open Enrollment: The Agent's Lead Buying Calendar
Two enrollment windows open within seventeen days of each other this fall, and between them they decide how most health and Medicare agencies finish the year. Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026. ACA Open Enrollment runs November 1, 2026 through January 15, 2027.
Agents know the dates. What sinks people is the buying calendar behind them: ordering data in the third week of October, when every carrier, FMO and competitor in the country is bidding for the same consumer attention and your dialer is already behind.
This is the calendar we give buyers who ask when to order.
The dates that actually matter
| Date | What happens | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 15, 2026 | Medicare AEP opens | Plan changes can be submitted. Volume peaks in the first ten days. |
| Nov 1, 2026 | ACA Open Enrollment opens | Your U65 pipeline turns on while Medicare is still running. |
| Dec 7, 2026 | Medicare AEP closes | Hard stop. Coverage effective January 1, 2027. |
| Dec 15, 2026 | ACA deadline for Jan 1 coverage | The real ACA deadline. Most consumers want January 1. |
| Jan 15, 2027 | ACA Open Enrollment closes | Enrollments here take February 1 coverage. |
The two dates most agents underweight are December 7 and December 15. December 7 ends Medicare entirely. December 15 is when ACA urgency collapses, because after it the best a consumer can get is February coverage. The window between them is eight days, and it is the most valuable stretch of the season for anyone writing both books.
One thing changed this year, and it changed back
A federal rule proposed in 2025 would have cut ACA Open Enrollment short, ending it December 15, 2026 instead of January 15, 2027. A federal judge blocked it in June 2026, so the full window survives for this cycle.
That matters for two reasons. You keep a month of enrollment activity that was nearly gone, which means January ACA data still has value instead of being dead weight. And it is worth remembering the rule was proposed at all. Agencies that build a plan assuming the January window is permanent are exposed the next time something similar is filed.
Twenty-one states do not follow the federal calendar
Most states use HealthCare.gov and run November 1 to January 15. Twenty-one states plus Washington, D.C. operate their own exchanges, and several set their own dates. Idaho opens October 15 — two full weeks before the federal window. Connecticut and Massachusetts open October 23. Several state exchanges run past January 15, some to January 31.
If you are licensed in a state-exchange state, your season starts earlier and may end later than the calendar your carrier reps are working from. When you order data, order for your states' calendar, not the federal one. This is also the strongest argument for state-level filtering on every order you place: a lead in a state whose window has closed is worth a fraction of one in a state with three weeks left.
The buying calendar, week by week
Now through October 14: buy aged, build the base
The weeks before AEP opens are the cheapest data of the season and almost nobody uses them well. Aged Medicare and ACA records — 30 to 180 days old, priced from $0.08 — are consumers who raised their hand earlier in the year and were never properly worked. Most were called once by an agent who gave up after two attempts.
Working them now does something fresh data cannot: it lets you have the first conversation before the noise starts. A T65 prospect you reach on October 3 remembers you on October 16. The same prospect first dialed on October 20 is your ninth call that week and hangs up.
This is also when your dialer, scripts and licensing should be finished. Nobody fixes a compliance problem in November.
October 15 through November 7: fresh Medicare, maximum urgency
The first three weeks of AEP produce the highest intent of the year. Consumers have received their Annual Notice of Change, seen a premium or formulary move they do not like, and are actively looking. Real-time and under-24-hour data is worth its premium in this window and at no other point in the year.
Order in advance of this window rather than during it. Real-time allocation is finite — everyone wants the same fifteen days — and buyers who reserve ahead get filled first.
November 1 through December 7: both books at once
ACA opens while Medicare is still running, and this is where most agencies lose money. They pour everything into Medicare through December 7, then start ACA cold on December 8 with one week until the January 1 deadline.
Split it. Medicare urgency is already peaking and does not need more spend to work. ACA volume from November 1 is genuinely fresh and, priced at $1.00 to $1.50 for under-7-day data, considerably cheaper per conversation than late-window Medicare.
December 8 through January 15: the window everyone leaves on the table
Medicare stops December 7. Most Medicare-focused agencies effectively stop with it — and then wonder why January is dead.
Two things are still live. ACA runs to January 15, with December 15 as the real deadline for January 1 coverage, which means the first week of December is the highest-urgency ACA stretch of the entire season. And Medicare Advantage enrollees who chose badly during AEP get a second window in the new year to switch, which is exactly what your AEP non-closes are.
Aged Medicare data bought in December is cheap, because demand has collapsed, and it is pointed straight at that January conversation.
What to actually order
A working season for a small agency usually looks like three orders, not one:
- Base layer (order now): aged Medicare and ACA, 30 to 180 days, in your licensed states. Cheapest data of the year, worked before the noise. Aged orders start at a $1,500 minimum.
- Peak layer (reserve now, delivered from Oct 15): fresh Medicare — under 24 hours at $1.50, under 7 days at $1.00 — sized to what your team can genuinely call in a day. Fresh tiers carry lead-count minimums.
- Second wave (reserve for Nov 1): fresh ACA through the December 15 deadline, then aged into January.
The most common mistake we see is a single large fresh order placed on October 20 for a team that can call 150 leads a day. Two thousand fresh leads delivered to a team with that capacity means most of them are a week old before anyone dials them — at which point you paid the under-24-hour price for under-7-day data. Buy fresh to your calling capacity, and fill the rest with aged.
See full pricing by lead age, or the Medicare and Health / ACA pages for what is available in each vertical.
Compliance does not pause for season
Every record we sell comes from a consumer who submitted a form requesting insurance information, and we retain the opt-in source and timestamp. We provide that documentation on request.
What stays on you is how you dial: your own scrubbing, calling-hours rules, state telemarketing registrations, and the CMS marketing requirements that apply to Medicare specifically. That obligation does not transfer with the data, and no vendor can take it on for you. If you are scaling call volume for the season, confirm your own footing before October, not after a complaint.
The short version
Buy aged now, while it is cheap and quiet. Reserve fresh before October 15 rather than bidding for it on October 20. Do not let ACA start cold in December. And order to your team's calling capacity rather than your budget — the fastest way to waste a fresh-lead premium is to buy more than you can dial.
Reserve your AEP and Open Enrollment allocation
Fresh Medicare and ACA leads, exclusive, delivered daily by API or CSV from the start date you choose. Allocation is limited and fills before October 15.
Reserve My AllocationSources: Medicare enrollment dates from CMS. ACA Open Enrollment dates, the blocked 2026 rule change, and state-exchange variations from healthinsurance.org. Confirm your own states' exchange dates before ordering.