Tuesday, Apr 09 2013 06:47 PM

Report: Millions could qualify for health care tax credits

BY RACHEL COOK Californian staff writer rcook@bakersfield.com

Nearly 3 million Californians, including about 64,000 Kern County residents, could be eligible for tax credits to purchase insurance via the state's health benefit exchange come 2014, according to a new report out Tuesday.

The analysis commissioned by Families USA, a nonprofit health care consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., said Californians with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level -- $94,200 for a family of four or $46,000 for a single person -- will be eligible for the tax credits.


Related Info

ARE YOU ELIGIBLE?

Visit the website for Covered California, the state's health benefit exchange, and plug in your annual household income, number of people in your household, and the age of your family's youngest adult to calculate what your estimated monthly premium and tax credit might be if you bought insurance through the exchange.

Go to: www.coveredca.com/calculating_the_cost.html .

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•Who could be eligible?


Residents with incomes between 200 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level will account for about half of the those who could be eligible for the tax credits statewide, the report said. The dollar amount of the tax credits that families and individuals receive will be calculated on a sliding scale.

"The tax credit subsidies are a game changer" that will make health insurance coverage affordable to many people who have been priced out of the market, said Ron Pollack, Families USA's executive director, during a conference call Tuesday morning.

Carmen Burgos, project manager for the Kern health consumer unit of Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance, said the report's projection for how many Kern County residents could be eligible for the tax credits seemed a little off.

"It definitely seems low," Burgos said.

The report broke down the findings by county, age, ethnicity and employment status, but did not specify how many of the eligible Californians are currently uninsured.

In Kern County and statewide, the majority of those eligible for the credits will be in households where someone is employed, about 87 percent in Kern County, according to the report.

Hispanics and young adults may stand to benefit the most from the credits. Hispanics could account for 49.7 percent of those eligible statewide and 59.4 percent of the eligible in Kern County, while adults age 18 to 34 could make up nearly 38 percent of those eligible for the credits statewide and almost 39 percent of Kern County's eligible.

Kathleen Stoll, director for health policy for Families USA, noted that the report factored out people who will be eligible for Medicaid when that program expands, while including people who could have employer coverage but are still eligible to buy health coverage through the exchange.

The tax credits will take effect in January 2014, after open enrollment starts in October 2013, the report said.

http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.co...re-tax-credits