Texans who are shopping for health insurance on the individual marketplace beginning Tuesday can expect to see options from fewer insurers and see higher premiums.

Open enrollment for Obamacare begins Nov. 1 and runs through Jan. 31. A preview of the available plans demonstrates the changing landscape consumers will face.

On the positive side, each of the state’s 254 counties will have at least one on-exchange offering for 2017. But there are noticeably fewer insurers to choose from.

There are 10 health insurance companies that will offer 2017 plans. That’s nine fewer than the current year. This past spring insurers requested steep rate hikes, and by late summer several announced that they would either stop offering plans in Texas altogether or would limit the available options.

That's to be expected as insurers figure out their business model in a new landscape, one that is only in its fourth year of existence, says Mimi Garcia, Texas state director for Enroll America.

Still, as a result, those turning to the marketplace will more than likely have to shop around; plans that existed in 2016 may not still be available in 2017.

A preview of the plans for each state was provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in October on healthcare.gov.

The number of insurers and the options of plans they provide vary by county.

In Dallas and Collin counties, there are a total of 32 on-exchange offerings from three different health insurance companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Molina and Ambetter (of the Celtic Insurance Company). Blue Cross and Ambetter will both offer 13 different plans in each of those two counties.

Blue Cross will offer bronze, silver and gold, HMO (health maintenance organization) plans. Generally, HMOs require that individuals choose an in-network primary care physician from a list, and the PCP makes referrals to other in-network specialists or hospitals when necessary.

Ambetter will offer bronze, silver and gold EPO (exclusive provider organization) plans, a type of managed care plan for which services are covered only if the patient goes to doctors, specialists, or hospitals in the plan’s network, except for emergency care.

In Dallas and Collin counties, Molina will offer one bronze, three silver and two gold HMO options. It will not have offerings in nearby Tarrant and Denton counties. However, there will be a total of 26 plans offered in those two counties, half from BCBSTX and half from Ambetter.

The remaining insurers which will offer plans in other areas of the state include CHRISTUS Health, Community Health Choice, Humana Health, Oscar Insurance Co., Prominence HealthFirst, Sendero and FirstCare Health.

Brokers who have reviewed the plans say customers can expect “sticker shock,” as their analysis shows premium increases up 50 percent from 2016. This summer HHS said that even if rates were raised by that much, plans should remain affordable and competitive.

In Dallas and Collin counties, the average estimated monthly cost of an on-exchange health insurance plan for 2017 is about $370. Deductibles averaged about $4,075, and maximum out-of-pocket expenses were $6,546 on average, according to a preview of the plans.

In Denton and Tarrant counties, the average estimated monthly cost of a plan is about $390. Deductibles averaged about $4,533, and maximum out of pocket expenses were $6,408 on average, according to the preview.

Consumers must use the exchange to sign up for insurance in order to qualify for federal premium subsidies based on income, and the estimates above do not reflect that assistance.

Most consumers will again be able to find a plan for less than $75 per month thanks to financial assistance, said Garcia of Enroll America. "Some people will be surprised to find out that they're newly eligible for assistance, even if they haven't been in years past," she said. "And about 85 percent of both current Marketplace consumers and Marketplace-eligible uninsured Americans qualify for tax credits that help make coverage affordable."

In previous years, some patients have also received assistance paying high premiums from charitable organizations. However, those enrolling into health insurance plans, both on and off the exchange, should also be aware that insurers are not required to accept charitable payments from third parties. Some have been denying the payments, a practice that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is currently investigating.