Pennie customers will see their monthly premiums shoot up by about 16% on average in 2027, increases that state regulators attribute to federal cuts, rising health costs and growing prescription use.
These premium bumps aren’t quite as sharp as they could have been, according to state regulators who say they denied $95 million in unjustified increases requested by insurance carriers.
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department finalized the 2027 Affordable Care Act rates Sept. 18 after several weeks of back-and-forth with the companies.
“We understand that these rate increases are rough on Pennsylvania families and businesses,” Michael Humphreys, the state’s insurance commissioner, said in a statement. “And we fought insurers for every savings we could reasonably assert.”
Officials said premiums are climbing across the country, noting that insurers on the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace — or Pennie — paid $845 million more in medical and prescription claims in 2025 compared to the previous year.
This will be a second year of double-digit rate hikes for ACA enrollees in the commonwealth after individual premiums spiked by an average of 21.5% in 2026.
State officials noted that federal officials are making matters worse by allowing ACA tax credits to lapse without renewing them. Democratic lawmakers had pushed to extend these subsidies, designed to make health insurance premiums more affordable, but the GOP majority blocked the effort.
After this federal assistance expired at the end of 2025, the average Pennie recipient got hit with a 102% jump in monthly health insurance costs, and many faced even greater increases. About 200,000 Pennsylvanians have canceled their coverage since then.
While Pennie rates are increasing overall, the exact amounts will vary based on each person’s plan and unique situation, according to state insurance officials.
Here are rate increases for plans available through the individual market:
- Ambetter Health of Pennsylvania Inc: — 35.1%
- Capital Advantage Assurance Company — 14.8%
- Geisinger Health Plan — 8.6%
- Geisinger Quality Options — 10.7%
- Health Partners Plans Inc. — 18.3%
- Highmark Benefits Group — 19.7%
- Highmark Inc. — 14.5%
- Keystone Health Plan Central — 33.4%
- Keystone Health Plan East — 16%
- Oscar Health Plan of PA — 1.4%
- Partners Insurance Company, Inc. — 18.8%
- QCC Insurance Company — 21.3%
- UPMC Health Network Inc. — 9.7%
- UPMC Health Plan Inc. — 13.5%
Pennie open enrollment is slated to run from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15 for coverage that begins Jan. 1, 2027, according to the state.
More information is available at pennie.com or by calling 1-844-844-8040.
