Double-digit rate hikes for Pennie health plans coming in 2027
Premium rates for small businesses will go up an average of 10% next year.
People who buy health insurance through Pennsylvania’s Affordable Care Act marketplace, Pennie, can expect double-digit rate increases next year.
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department has finalized an average rate increase of 16% for Pennie health plans sold to individuals and families. Premiums for small business plans will go up an average of 10%.
“We understand that these rate increases are rough on Pennsylvania families and businesses, and we fought insurers for every savings we could reasonably assert,” Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Michael Humphreys said Friday in a statement.
Insurers had requested an average rate increase of 17% for individual plans and 11% for small-business plans.
The rate increases reflect rising healthcare and prescription drug costs, Humphreys said. Federal Medicaid cuts and the loss of a key financial incentive program for ACA plans are expected to continue driving up the number of people who are uninsured, raising costs across the healthcare system and contributing to higher insurance prices.
Insurers are required by law to spend 80% of the money they collect through premiums on healthcare for members.
New Jersey’s Department of Banking and Insurance has not released 2027 rates for the state’s ACA marketplace, Get Covered New Jersey.
Pennie cost pressures
The 2027 rate increases follow massive price hikes in ACA marketplaces this year, after Congress failed to extend a critical financial incentive program. The cost of a Pennie health plan more than doubled for many in 2026, and at least 177,000 people have dropped coverage as a result.
Before their elimination, the so-called enhanced premium tax credits ensured that no one paid more than 8.5% of their income on an ACA premium. The credits had been renewed annually since being introduced in 2021, but expired at the beginning of last year after Republicans refused to approve them for another year.
Patient advocates said they are concerned that another price hike will make insurance unaffordable for even more people. Representatives of Affordable Healthcare for PA, a coalition of patients, community members, and advocates, said they would push to make insurance affordability and the expired tax credit program a central issue in the upcoming midterm elections.
“This is a five-alarm fire,” said Alisha Hoffman-Mirilovich, a coalition member and executive director of Action Together NEPA, a nonprofit that advocates for progressive healthcare policies.
“You don’t need to be an economist to understand that when health insurance costs skyrocket while wages remain stagnant, people are going to suffer in very real ways,” she said.
Pennie executive director Devon Trolley urged people currently insured through Pennie to review their coverage during fall open enrollment. Prices vary depending on age, income level, and geography.
Income-based tax credits remain available as part of the ACA for people earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level — about $62,600 a year for an individual or $128,600 for a family of four.
Pennie’s open enrollment runs Nov. 1 through Jan. 15. For coverage that starts Jan. 1, people should sign up or make changes by Dec. 15.
Get Covered New Jersey will remain open for 2027 enrollment through the end of January.
