CNN: "The Affordable Care Act Saved My Life": Pennsylvania Home Care Worker Worries About Rising Health Insurance Premiums

December 11, 2025

Allentown, PENNSYLVANIA - As Congressman Ryan Mackenzie continues to kick the can down the road on expiring health care tax credits, home care worker and Mackenzie constituent Lynn Weidner has been stepping up and speaking out in support of the tax credits, which have allowed her to afford otherwise inaccessible care.

Congressman Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07) has failed to sign onto the discharge petition for a three-year extension of health care tax credits that benefit 21,000 working Pennsylvanians in his district. Without action to extend these tax credits, Pennie enrollees in the Lehigh Valley are seeing a 178% increase in average monthly costs. Affordable Pennsylvania urges Rep. Mackenzie to support the discharge petition to extend tax credits for three years, which only needs four Republicans to sign on to force a vote to prevent skyrocketing health care costs.

Read more about Lynn’s story and how rising ACA premiums are affecting the Lehigh Valley community below:

CNN: "The Affordable Care Act saved my life": Pennsylvania home care worker worries about rising health insurance premium

• Lynn Weidner, a home care worker and board member for the SEIU Healthcare union in Pennsylvania, joined CNN's Pamela Brown to discuss her financial concerns if the enhanced premium tax credits expire after Dec. 31.

AP News: Swing district Republicans brace for political fallout if health care subsidies expire

• The expiration of the tax credits means enrollees will see annual premiums more than double — from an average of $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026, according to health care research nonprofit KFF. That’s an increase of 114%.

• The size of the increases varies by state, age and income and will be more extreme in Mackenzie’s district, according to state data, which puts the average premium increase at 178%.

• In Mackenzie’s district, more than 20,000 people received the enhanced tax credits in 2025, according to state data.

• Lynn Weidner, a home care worker in Mackenzie’s district who works nearly 80 hours a week, said her $400 premium will increase to $680. But, she said, she’s leaning toward selecting the plan because she has various conditions — including an iron deficiency — that require regular medical care.

• “So I’m trying to find places where I can cut money so that I can afford my insurance come January, which is stressful,” Weidner said.