What is a health insurance subsidy?

The health insurance subsidies are applied automatically to health insurance plans purchased through an online exchange.

By Sarah Kliff Updated Jan 5, 2017, 2:33pm EST

Part of Everything you need to know about Obamacare

A health insurance subsidy is financial help from the federal government to uninsured Americans who are low or middle income. They are available to people who don’t get affordable coverage at work and earn somewhere between 133 and 400 percent of the federal poverty line (between $15,000 and $46,000 for an individual or $32,000 to $95,000 for a family of four). The amount of subsidy is determined by a family’s income, with those who earn less getting more financial help.

The health insurance subsidies are applied automatically to health insurance plans purchased through an online exchange. The federal government sends the subsidy payment straight to the insurance plan, meaning that an enrollee only pays the difference between what the amount of the subsidy and the monthly premium cost. The Kaiser Family Foundation has a helpful subsidy calculator that will let you see what your family might be eligible for.

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