Without Congressional approval of Pennie’s Enhanced Premium Tax Credit (EPTC), the actual impact of these tax credits expiring is an average increase of 102%, reflecting a doubling of premiums across all current enrollees.
Several considerations and contingency plans were discussed during the recent Pennie Board of Directors meeting, including the possibility of delaying the start of Open Enrollment if Congress were to approve EPTC between October 25 and October 31. This would allow Pennie and the health insurers time to update their systems and calculate more accurate costs. If no Congressional decision is made by October 31, Pennie would open on November 1 as planned without enhanced premium tax credits. Individuals would see sticker shock in the system and on enrollee renewal notices, causing many to abandon the security of health insurance.
Pennie estimates 29 counties in total will experience premium increases more than 100%, with 9 seeing premium increases more than 200% with the highest average premium increases in Juniata County (485% per member) and Fulton County (411% per member).
To help mitigate some of these changes and allow customers more time to make decisions, Pennie has extended the December 15 deadline to December 31 for January 1 coverage to allow consumers adequate time to understand the premium changes coming to the plan they have been renewed into and shop for a different plan if their current plan is now unaffordable Pennie has also extended the 2026 Open Enrollment Period to January 31, 2026, and made the effective coverage date February 1, 2026, for plan selection made on or after January 1, 2026.