Health insurance allows you to live in the moment – InsuranceNewsNet

Nearly 700,000 Idaho residents have health insurance through their employers; their employers cover most of the monthly premium cost for them. However, many businesses cannot financially extend this advantage to employees’ families. The high cost of health insurance deprives families of health insurance and access to health care.

Advance premium tax credits were introduced in 2010 to make health insurance affordable for most Idahoans. Unfortunately, a Internal Revenue Service According to the comment, many families still lacked access to affordable insurance. This problem is known as “family fault”. Given the employee’s insurance was affordable, no one in the household was eligible for a tax credit from the state’s insurance exchange, Your Health Idaho, regardless of the cost to cover their family. The flaw with the policy is that affordability is determined by the cost of coverage for the employee only, not the entire family. In many cases, this means that families have to choose between paying rent or buying food or providing their families with health insurance.

The good news is that the glitch is fixed. From 2023, affordability is now determined separately by employee and family. If the employee’s or the entire family’s monthly contribution is more than 9.12% of the household income, they may be eligible for a tax credit. For example, a married couple $40,000 There may be monthly employee-only bonuses per year: 100 dollarsIf the couple’s total monthly premium is 350 dollars. Employee-only cost is considered affordable, but the combined cost cannot be covered, meaning their spouse may qualify for tax credits. If the annual income of a family of four is $60,000employee’s monthly premium 75 dollars and monthly premium for the whole family 475 dollarsThe employee’s premium is considered affordable in cases where there is no family premium. Family members may qualify for tax credits.

What does this really mean for Idahoans? More people will now have access to affordable, quality health insurance, and many will even qualify for a tax credit for the first time.

If all those numbers are too much, Your Health Idaho’s application process takes care of the math for you. The application for insurance and tax credit is made at the same time, in the same application. If you’re not sure when you can sign up or if you’re eligible for tax credits, client advocates are available to answer questions and can be reached at 855-944-3246 or YourHealthIdaho.org.