In 2025, more than 90,000 Kentuckians were enrolled in a health insurance plan through kynect, the state’s health insurance marketplace. Most of these enrollees received subsidies that significantly reduced the cost of their monthly premiums. Those premium subsidies, known as Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTCs), are now at the center of the budget debate in Congress. Their expiration at the end of the year would cause premiums to soar and lead to thousands of Kentuckians becoming uninsured.
This lost support would harm Kentuckians in all 120 counties. For these households, premium costs are likely to double in many cases. A family of four with an income twice the poverty level would see their annual premiums rise from $2,102 to $5,361. A 60-year old couple with a household income of $85,000 would lose their insurance support entirely, and see their annual premium costs rise from $7,225 to $30,886. Many of these people are small business owners or work at a small business or as independent contractors.
Open enrollment begins November 1, and without quick action from Congress those health plans will be prohibitively expensive for Kentuckians in every corner of the state. For example, premium spikes could be facing:
- 1,122 people in Calloway County
- 603 people in Adair County
- 2,551 people in Daviess County
To see how many people are covered by a kynect plan in your county, see the map below.
And to see how much premiums will cost for your household, use kynect’s screening tool here. If these increased costs will be a challenge for you and your family to meet, and you’d like to tell your story, please share it here.
