WE HAVE TO PASS IT TO FIND OUT WHAT’S IN IT, PART 5,321: Another reason why the Affordable Care act isn’t going to be so “affordable” after all. The IRS has issued regulations that will deny health insurance subsidies to many middle-income families.
Under the law, individuals are eligible to get a federal subsidy to help pay for health insurance when the cost of a policy exceeds 9.5% of income. Under the proposed IRS regulations, subsidies will be available only if the cost of an individual health insurance policy exceeds 9.5% of income, not a family policy. As we all know, family policies are much more expensive than individual ones, often costing 3 times more.
The net effect of this regulation is that many Americans will not qualify for federal subsidies. But of course they’re still mandated to buy a health insurance policy anyway (or pay a hefty tax penalty). Nice.