Health-care subsidies to help working families

Health-care subsidies to help working families

WASHINGTON The majority of tax subsidies to help Americans pay for health insurance starting in January will go to working families, according to a nationwide study released Thursday. About 25.7 million people who fall between 138 percent and 400 percent of the poverty level — below $46,000 for a single adult and $94,000 for a family of four — will be eligible for funds that will go directly to an insurance plan they choose. According to the Congressional Budget Office, those subsidies will cost about $350 billion from 2010 to 2019, but taxes and savings built into the law will offset them. “This reaches deeply into the middle class, as well as moderate-income families,” said Ron Pollack, founding executive director of Families USA, which released the national report. “This is a group that’s really deserving of priority help.” The 2010 health care law, the Affordable Care Act, created state health care exchanges where residents can shop for health insurance policies available in their states. The exchanges are state- or federal-run websites where residents can see a list of plans, their costs and benefits, and whether they are eligible for any subsidies to help with the cost. Those with employer-paid insurance may keep that insurance. Financial help Most Americans, Pollack said, don’t know how the exchanges will work or that they may be eligible for financial help to pay for insurance. That’s why Families USA released the report, he said. The report shows that families that make $47,000 to $94,000 will receive half the money, that 88 percent of the credits will go to working families, and that those up to age 36 are most likely to be eligible. Families USA did not include people who fall below 138 percent of the poverty line because, in the states that will expand Medicaid, they will not need subsidies. Some Americans who buy insurance under the exchanges will face sticker shock, said Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans. That’s because, he said, insurers may no longer charge young, healthy people less for premiums while charging older and sicker people, or those with pre-existing medical conditions, more. “There’s broad agreement that for the new reforms to work, there needs to be high participation in the health care system,” Zirkelbach said. “But the young and healthy may still decide not to buy insurance and may only buy it when they become sick.” Affordability The CBO found that 40 percent of people in individual-market plans will not be eligible for subsidies, Zirkelbach said. Those who fall between 250 percent and 300 percent of the federal poverty level would receive only enough to pay 42 percent of the second-lowest-ranking plan offered by the health care exchanges. “Affordability is the key for all of it to work,” he said.

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