Older Philly-area residents face steep ACA premiums

‘Something’s wrong’: Older residents face premium spikes

Buchovecky grew up in Chester County, Pennsylvania, which is where she and her husband also raised their four children.

After more than two decades teaching high school English while her husband worked at a local company as a systems analyst, the couple determined they had saved enough to retire just before 60.

A big factor in that decision was knowing they could get health insurance through Pennie, Pennsylvania’s ACA marketplace. A silver plan cost about $150 a month in premiums in early 2023, Buchovecky said.

“Then we thought, well, where do we want to retire to? OK, Delaware,” she said. “Never gave insurance a second thought.”

But moving to a new state in the fall of 2023 came with growing pains, she said, especially when it came to health insurance.

Buchovecky and her husband found that the plan options in Delaware were pricier and had smaller networks of health providers in general compared to the coverage they had in Chester County.

They ended up dropping down to a less comprehensive plan that cost them about $350 a month — “still totally doable,” Buchovecky said.

Their monthly premium remained affordable even on a limited income, she said, because they qualified for some enhanced premium tax credits, which Congress passed in 2021 during the pandemic.

However, that changed this past fall when the couple had to shop for 2026 coverage without the federal tax credits, which had an expiration date of Dec. 31. To keep their current plan, Buchovecky told her husband it would cost them nearly $3,000 a month.

“And he kept saying, ‘You’re doing something wrong.’ I’m like, believe me, I wish I was doing something wrong,” she said laughing. “He’s like, ‘You’re gonna have to show me.’ So, I showed him and he’s like, ‘Something’s wrong with the system, this can’t be right.’”

They eventually found a different plan “for the low, low price” of $2,500 a month, Buchovecky said sarcastically.

There was no question her husband needed health insurance, as he had suffered a stroke several years ago and has ongoing medical needs. But Buchovecky told him she was seriously considering going uninsured to save money.

“We went back and forth and back and forth and I just didn’t want to do it. I’m like, screw it,” she said. “But he was getting so worked up about, ‘If something happens to you, like, what am I supposed to do?’ I think I signed up at 11:58 p.m. the last day, because I was just so angry.”