It's too early to know who stands to benefit, but multiple estimates suggest lower-income workers people working in agriculture, mining and the service industries and people who work for companies with fewer than 200 employees could have the most to gain. And some people might not even know this is an option. Some families won’t want to deal with the hassle of having different family members on different plans. Keith lists three reasons why so few people currently stuck in the glitch would benefit: It could actually be cheaper to stick with a family plan and not pay two premiums or two deductibles. The White House estimates up to 1 million people would get cheaper coverage and 200,000 would get insurance. If the Biden administration’s new rule is finalized, family members could get federal subsidies to buy ACA coverage if their work-based family plan costs more than about 10 percent of their family income. Plus the administration wanted to avoid taking any step that seemed to undermine employer-based coverage. A more generous policy would increase the ACA’s price tag. We’re not going to look at the cost of family coverage at all when we determine whether you’re eligible,” Keith explained. Whatever the employee is offered – that’s going to extend to the whole family. “The Obama administration’s IRS said, we think our hands are tied. She is the director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center. Katie Keith has tracked the family glitch saga for years and talked with the Biden administration about fixing the glitch. Others have gone uninsured but purchased plans for their kids. Some of the 5 million people caught in this predicament have decided to go without health insurance. “We got home, I immediately called and reported I had a divorce, and my plan dropped back down to $40. “It was just so frustrating and demoralizing and dehumanizing.”Įven their skeptical judge agreed and granted them a divorce. “We're just blowing through this money for no reason other than the stupid piece of paper that says we're married,” Marshall said. Going from Obamacare with subsidies to Obamacare without subsidies, Marshall’s premiums jumped from $40 a month to more than $400. When Wolk was offered an individual plan through work that cost less than 9.6 percent of their family income, that automatically disqualified her spouse from federal subsidies, no matter the price of a family plan. “Oh, my God, this is what is going on,” Wolk recalled saying. Then one night, three months into their marriage, the puzzle pieces started coming together. When Wolk called to re-enroll her husband in an ACA plan, the operator said he no longer qualified for federal assistance. I can just go back to this,” Marshall said. “I was like, phew, this safety net’s here. The two decided Wolk would enroll in an individual plan, running $1,500 a year in premiums, and Marshall would stay on the ACA exchange. That was at least 20 percent of their income. But when Wolk called to sign them up, she was told it would cost more than $16,000 a year in premiums. She was thrilled that it came with health insurance. Shortly after their 2019 wedding, Wolk landed a full-time job teaching English as a second language. The couple live in Portland, Maine, where Marshall is a musician. ![]() The family glitch shocked Wolk and Marshall. This April, the Biden administration proposed a rule change that would allow people stuck in the “glitch” to qualify for the subsidies. Health policy wonks call it the “family glitch,” and every year it keeps an estimated 5 million people ineligible for federally subsidized health insurance, mostly women and kids. ![]() Liana Wolk and Owen Marshall are caught in an Affordable Care Act loophole. It’s not about employment or family pressure. But the only way they can afford that is to legally split up. He still thinks there is something fishy about their request.Īnd he’s right. They’ve been married just a year, and they're here – for the second time – to ask for a divorce.Ī month ago, the same judge gave them a hard time, then said no. The scene seems straight out of a movie: A young couple stands solemnly before the judge. Marshall is one of an estimated 5 million Americans stuck in the "family glitch." Submitted Photo ![]() Liana Wolk (left) and Owen Marshall (right) at their wedding in May 2019.
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