Congratulations to Marlon Sparks of Hodgson, the Delaware Online Football Athlete of the Week for Week 8 of the season.

The senior caught four passes for 45 yards, including a leaping touchdown grab on fourth down, in a 21-7 upset of Appoquinimink.

Sparks won an online vote over four other nominees. Check out the Week 9 nominees on Monday on Delaware Online and vote for your favorite.

Voting is free and runs Monday through Thursday, with the weekly winner announced each Friday.

The weekly poll is presented by Delaware Orthopaedic Specialists.

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline. Follow on X: @BradMyersTNJ. Follow us on Instagram: @DEGameDay

Plan prices and cost saving options

The actual amount someone will pay for their monthly premium depends on if they are eligible for federal tax credits, which reduce monthly premium costs. They are calculated based on someone’s income and household size during the online enrollment process and are immediately applied to monthly premium charges after plans are selected and coverage begins in 2025.

Many people received boosted tax credit amounts during the COVID-19 pandemic when Congress passed additional funding for ACA financial assistance.

After tax credits were applied, the average monthly premium in Delaware for 2024 coverage was about $147, and about 17% of all enrollees paid $10 or less a month, according to state officials.

In Pennsylvania, about nine in 10 ACA enrollees qualify for these tax credits.

“Without the tax credits, without those financial savings, a lot of the health plans would cost $500 a month,” Trolley said. “And what we see many people pay is $10, $50, $100. It’s really significant savings.”

But as pandemic-era funding runs out, state insurance officials warn that this open enrollment period for coverage in 2025 could be the last year of those enhanced, boosted tax credits if Congress does not appropriate more money going forward, which means many people could see their premium costs rise significantly in 2026.

In addition to federal tax credits, people in New Jersey can also apply for a state subsidy called the New Jersey Health Plan Savings, which also reduces monthly premium costs for eligible residents.

Justin Zimmerman, the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, said residents will also benefit from new state laws that cap some out-of-pocket prescription costs.

“All Get Covered New Jersey health plans will cap the out-of-pocket costs of insulin at $35 a month as well as cap out-of-pocket costs for EpiPens at $25 and asthma inhalers at $50 for a monthly supply,” Zimmerman said.

What questions do you have about the 2024 elections? What major issues do you want candidates to address? Let us know.

With the presidential election just a few days away, the high-stakes race is never completely out of mind for Delawareans running errands or out shopping.

Republican candidate former President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris are making their final pitches this week ahead of Election Day.

GOP voters ducking into stores in a shopping center in New Castle County voiced concerns this week about the state of today’s political discourse and hope a new administration will put America on a positive track.

Norm Jacobs, a retired police officer, said he supports Trump for president because he liked Trump’s policies when he was in office four years ago.

Jacobs said one reason he likes Trump is because he opposes noncitizens entering the country through the U.S.-Mexico border. The former president is promising mass deportations of undocumented migrants.

“People are getting raped, getting killed,” Jacobs said. “You know, people are living in fear.”

Data compiled by academics and think tanks have shown that immigrants do not commit crime at a higher rate than native-born Americans. 

Jacobs said he’s also voting for Trump because of his support for Israel in its war in Gaza and his opposition to transgender people playing on women’s sports teams.

Wilmington resident Kane Phillips said while he’s a registered Republican, he’ll be supporting Kamala Harris this year. He said he hopes the “hate-mongering” will go away after the election, including the kind of remarks made at a recent Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“There were some very derogatory comments made to American citizens,” he said. “I don’t care for that.”

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe received fierce blowback for calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage” during his rally speech. Another speaker, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, falsely described Harris at the rally as “low IQ” and inaccurately described Harris’s race, which is Black and Asian American. Trump also has questioned the vice president’s intelligence.