# Health Care Affordability Act of 2021

This bill changes how much people have to pay for health insurance premiums based on their income. Right now, there's a cap that limits how much of your income can go toward health insurance premiums if you're getting help from the government to pay for coverage. This bill removes that cap and creates a new sliding scale system that would require people earning more money to pay a higher percentage of their income toward premiums.

Here's what that means in practical terms. If your household income is below 150% of the poverty line (roughly $20,000 for an individual in 2021), you'd pay nothing toward premiums. But as your income goes up, so does your percentage. For example, someone earning between 150% and 200% of the poverty line would pay between 0% and 3% of their income, while someone earning between 300% and 400% of the poverty line would pay between 6% and 8.5%. The key change is that people earning above 400% of the poverty line (currently around $106,000 for an individual) would still be capped at 8.5%, but the bill removes the previous limit that prevented the government from helping people above that income threshold at all.

The bill essentially expands who can receive government help with health insurance costs and adjusts the payment structure so that help is based on a sliding scale tied to income. For lower-income people, this could mean more affordable coverage options. For higher-income people, it could mean they become eligible for government assistance they weren't eligible for before, though they'd pay a larger share of the cost themselves. The changes would take effect for tax years beginning after December 31, 2021.

Health Care Affordability Act of 2021

Underwood, Lauren

Health Care Affordability Act of 2021 This bill revises the tax credit for health care premium assistance to expand the eligibility of low-income taxpayers for such credit and&nbsp; reduce the cost of health care premiums.