Devon Trolley, Pennie’s Executive Director, provided a deep dive into the impact of the reconciliation bill for the public on Pennsylvania’s Health Insurance Marketplace. For the 2025 Enrollment Period, Pennie enrolled nearly 500,000 people. The Reconciliation Bill passed by the House and under consideration in the Senate includes significant impacts to Pennsylvanians and could result in 270,000 people losing coverage. The bill increases costs and imposes unnecessary barriers. The Reconciliation Bill does not extend the current Enhanced Premium Tax Credits, which thousands rely on to lower costs. Without Congressional action, costs will go up by 82% and double the cost for most enrollees.
Some barriers to enrollment include pre-enrollment verification for enrollees who have already been verified using trusted resources like the IRS and state data sources, prohibiting auto-enrollment and removing conditional eligibility for enrollees, such as newborns, without documentation at the time of enrollment thus requiring full cost premium payment without the benefit of tax credits.
Listen to a recording of the briefing. For more data, check out Pennie’s webpage on Cost and Affordability.