Consumers Whose Income Drops Below Poverty Get Break On Subsidy Payback
Right about now, some low-income people who just barely qualified for subsidies on the health insurance marketplace are starting to worry: What if my income for the year ends up below the poverty level? Will I have to pay back the premium tax credits I received?
A couple of readers have posed this question in recent weeks.
Their concern stems from an unfortunate wrinkle in the health law. Premium tax credits that make coverage on the health insurance exchanges more affordable are available聽only聽to people with incomes between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($11,490 to $45,960 for an individual this year). People whose income is below the poverty line don鈥檛 qualify.
Their concern stems from an unfortunate wrinkle in the health law. Premium tax credits that make coverage on the health insurance exchanges more affordable are available聽only聽to people with incomes between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($11,490 to $45,960 for an individual this year). People whose income is below the poverty line don鈥檛 qualify.
Now, people who didn鈥檛 qualify for Medicaid and whose estimated income is coming up short of the poverty level are worried they鈥檒l have to repay thousands of dollars in .
One reader wrote: 鈥淲hat is going to happen? Will he have to pay back all of the money that he received for the tax credit since he no longer qualifies?鈥
The short answer is no. No repayment will be required. According to a , if the insurance marketplace estimates that someone鈥檚 income will be between 100 and 400 percent of poverty and it turns out that his income for the year is below the poverty threshold, the individual for any premium tax credits he received.
Since the marketplace always makes the eligibility determination for tax credits, no one whose income ends up below the poverty level should have to repay them, says Judith Solomon, vice president for health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The same isn鈥檛 true for people whose income is above the poverty line,聽however.聽Above that threshold, people who received too much in premium tax credits will聽be responsible for repaying聽those amounts聽up to a cap, based on their income. And above 400 percent of the poverty level, the entire amount.
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