The California-based Kaiser Family Foundation has released a report this week detailing the number of Americans who will be eligible for premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act in 2014.
The report, released on Tuesday, Nov. 5, estimates that about 17 million people nationwide will be eligible for the credits, including 301,000 people in Wisconsin.
According to the report’s issue brief, “Under the law, people with incomes between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level may be eligible for premium tax credits when they purchase coverage in a Marketplace. People who are eligible for other types of public or private coverage, for example Medicaid or coverage through an employer-provided plan, generally cannot claim a premium tax credit. These tax credits also are not available to people who are not lawfully present in the country or who are incarcerated. Legally residing immigrants who recently arrived in the country are eligible for premium tax credits despite being ineligible for Medicaid; they may qualify if their income does not exceed 400 percent of the federal poverty level.
“The amount of tax credit that a person receives depends on their family income and the cost of health insurance where they live. The law establishes a maximum percentage of income that people within the 100 to 400 percent of poverty income range must pay for a benchmark plan where they live. The percentages range from 2% of income for people with income at the federal poverty line to 9.5% of income for people with incomes at four times federal poverty. If the premium that a person or family faces for the benchmark plan in their area is higher than the maximum percent of income defined in the law for their income, they are eligible for a tax credit and the tax credit is equal to the difference between the premium for the benchmark plan and the defined percent of their income. The benchmark plan is the second-lowest-cost plan in the silver cost-sharing tier offered through the marketplace for the area where they live. Additional explanations and examples are available by using the Kaiser Premium Subsidy Calculator.
View the full report here.
