ACA

What is the Affordable Care Act?

The ACA creates a collection of state run healthcare options, typically run through healthcare.gov, but some states run their own sites.

The federal government offers tax credits to pay for covered health insurance if income is under certain thresholds - generally 400% of the Federal Poverty Level. Determining the tax credits generally works like this:

• At the beginning of the year, the tax filer estimates their income and chooses a healthcare plan through healthcare.gov.
• Healthcare.gov calculates any tax credits available based on the income the filer estimated, and that filer is given an immediate discount on their healthcare premiums for the year.
• When taxes are filed at the end of the year, the IRS does a true-up (See Form 8962), comparing the tax filer’s actual income with the estimated income.
• Additional taxes may be required if the filer overestimated, or a credit may be applied if the filer underestimated.

Healthcare prices and subsidies vary by state and zip code.

Calculations

You will need to provide 2 pieces of information for Catalyst to estimate your ACA subsidies:

1. The Federal Poverty Level for your household. You can find the table here.
2. Your “Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan” for your zip code. You can use the health coverage tax tool to get this information.

Catalyst will then perform a calculation of your potential ACA subsidy and provide it in an Annual and Monthly number.