Your renewal letter went up. Here is why.

Three things happened at once, and most people only heard about one of them.

One. The extra help ended. From 2021 through 2026 there was a temporary boost to the premium tax credit. It expired. Even if your plan’s sticker price had not moved an inch, your share of it would still have gone up, because the government is now paying less of it.

Two. The plans themselves cost more. Insurers raised 2027 rates in all three states. The approved figures are further down this page.

Three. If you crossed the income line, the help stopped completely. The 400% cutoff is back for 2027. That is not a smaller subsidy — it is zero.

Which of the three hit you changes what you should do about it. They are not the same problem and they do not have the same fix. That is what the rest of this page sorts out.

The 2027 income limits, and where the cliff sits →

No. This is the thing people get wrong most often, and it is costing some of them coverage.

The premium tax credit still exists. It is written into the Affordable Care Act and it did not expire. What expired was the temporary extra amount added on top of it between 2021 and 2026.

So most people who had help still have help. It is just less than last year. A smaller number lost it entirely, and that group is specific: households over 400% of the federal poverty level, and people whose immigration status changed what they qualify for.

If you opened a renewal letter, saw a number you could not pay, and assumed the help was gone — check before you cancel anything. We see this one every week right now.

Have us check before you cancel anything →

This is the biggest group by far, and it is the most fixable.

Your credit is calculated on a percentage of your income. The temporary rules made those percentages smaller, so the credit was bigger. The old percentages are back, so the credit is smaller. Nothing about you changed.

Four things are worth checking before you accept the number.

Is the income on your application still right? A renewal usually carries last year’s figure forward. If your hours changed, a contract ended, a business had a worse year or someone in the household stopped working, the credit is being calculated on a number that is no longer true.

Is your household size right? A baby, a marriage, someone moving in or out — each one moves the line you are measured against.

Are you in the right plan for the help you get? The credit is tied to a benchmark plan, and which plan is the benchmark can change from year to year. The same credit can be worth more in a different plan.

Can any of your income come off before it is counted? See the question further down. It is the one almost nobody mentions.

Have us re-check the number →

Almost always one of two reasons, and they are very different situations.

You went over 400% of the federal poverty level. For 2027 that is $63,840 for a household of one, $86,560 for two, $109,280 for three and $132,000 for four. Between 2021 and 2026 going over that line meant a smaller credit. For 2027 it means no credit at all, even by one dollar.

Or your immigration status is now treated differently. From January 1, 2027, the premium tax credit is limited to citizens and nationals, green card holders, Cuban and Haitian entrants, and COFA migrants. Refugees, people granted asylum, people with Temporary Protected Status and trafficking victims had this help last year and do not have it for 2027. What changes by status.

If it is the income line, there is often something to do about it. If it is status, there is not — but there is still coverage to arrange, and the sooner the better.

Different in each state, because each one runs its own marketplace and approves rates its own way.

Connecticut approved an average 11.3% increase for individual plans and 15.1% for small group.

Pennsylvania approved 15.97% for individual plans through Pennie and 10.28% for small group.

New Jersey carriers filed for an average of about 20.4%. New Jersey does not approve individual market rates in advance.

These are averages across every plan in the state. Yours may have moved more or less, and two plans from the same insurer can go in different directions. The average is not a forecast for your bill.

The full state-by-state detail →

You were automatically re-enrolled, and that is worth a second look this year in particular.

If you do nothing during open enrollment, the marketplace rolls you into your current plan, or into the one it considers closest if yours was discontinued. That is a convenience in a normal year. In a year when prices and credits both moved, it can leave you in the wrong plan paying the wrong amount.

The plan you were moved into may have a different network, a different deductible, and a different relationship to the credit you are getting. None of that is flagged in the letter.

Auto-renewal is a default, not a recommendation. It costs nothing to have someone compare it against what else is on the shelf before the deadline passes.

Compare what else is on the shelf →

Sometimes, legally, and this is the question almost nobody asks.

The income your credit is based on is not simply what you are paid. Certain things come off it first. Money you put into a health savings account is the clearest one. A self-employed retirement contribution is another, and so are some business expenses if you work for yourself.

For a household sitting a little over the 400% line and getting nothing at all, that can be the difference between no help and real help. On the numbers above, a household of two needs to be under $86,560 — and a few thousand dollars in the right place has moved people under it.

It does not work for everyone and it has to be done properly. It is worth twenty minutes with someone who will actually sit down and look.

See where the line falls for your household →

We would rather talk you through the real options than watch you make that choice from a letter.

Going uninsured is not a saving, it is a bet, and the house edge is large. One night in a hospital costs more than a year of premiums. And in New Jersey there is still a state penalty for going without coverage, so the gap is not free there even if nothing happens to you.

Before dropping anything, there are usually cheaper routes nobody mentioned: a catastrophic plan, a Bronze plan paired with a health savings account, Covered Connecticut if you are in that range, or a different metal level that uses your credit better. The full list of options when a plan is unaffordable.

Possibly, and it depends on what changed rather than on how you feel about the price.

Price alone does not open a special enrollment period. But a number of ordinary life events do, and people have them without realising they count: losing other coverage, a move, a marriage or divorce, a baby, or a plan at work becoming unaffordable. Income changes can also matter for some programs.

Covered Connecticut has no open enrollment at all — if you are a Connecticut household at or below 175% of the federal poverty level, aged 19 to 64, you can apply at any time of year.

Most of these windows are 60 days and they start at the event, not when you notice. If something happened, say so quickly.

The enrollment windows, state by state →

Bring it. That is the whole answer.

Three things settle most of this: the renewal letter, the income you expect for 2027, and who is in the household. From those we can tell you which of the three causes hit you, whether the number is even right, and what else is on the shelf.

There is no fee at any point. We are paid by the insurance company when someone enrolls, and a plan costs you exactly the same whether you use us or not. If the answer turns out to be the plan you already have, we will tell you that.

The deadline is the part that is not negotiable. For coverage starting January 1 you need to be enrolled by December 15 in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and by December 31 in New Jersey.

Start the conversation →