Pennie, Pennsylvania’s health insurance marketplace, has made it affordable for me to have health insurance for the past several years.

Now, with the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced subsidies ending, combined with a slight increase in my household income this year, I am suddenly no longer eligible for any subsidies, and my plan costs have more than tripled for 2026, rising to about 30% of my take-home pay.

I cannot afford such payments, so at this point it is looking like I will have to be uninsured next year. This is very distressing, and I only hope that the state Legislature can change things and make it affordable once again.

It seems grossly unfair to have a cliff that folks fall off, where suddenly no subsidies are available after a certain income level. There should be a graduated decrease in subsidies based upon income.

Our household cannot afford to pay large amounts for insurance on top of all the other payments we already have to make.

I would hope that the commonwealth of Pennsylvania will choose to subsidize Pennie if the federal government will not. I know it is a large lift for the state, but I would hope that we have an attitude that we take care of our own.

There are nations with smaller populations than Pennsylvania that manage to offer universal health care to their citizens. So why can’t Pennsylvania do it for our citizens?

David Dietz

Hellam Township

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