With Obama’s help, Biden to announce proposed fix to ACA’s ‘family glitch’
President Joe Biden is expected Tuesday to propose a way to increase the number of dependents who can get subsidized insurance under the Affordable Care Act, a fix to what’s been called the “family glitch.”
The proposal: If a workplace plan for a whole family costs more than 10% of a family’s income, then the worker’s spouse and children could get help purchasing a private plan through the Obamacare marketplace.
The change, which would go into effect as early as next year, could allow an estimated 200,000 people without insurance to gain coverage, according to the White House.
About 1 million people might be able to switch to a more affordable plan, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The change, which must complete a rule-making process, may be the most consequential action the Biden Administration can take without Congress to make health insurance more affordable, according to Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan research group.
North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, accused the administration of usurping Congress’ authority. She said the change will chip away at employer-sponsored coverage and increase the cost of Obamacare borne by taxpayers.
No Republican voted for the Affordable Care Act and GOP lawmakers tried unsuccessfully during the Trump administration to repeal it.
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Former President Barack Obama is making his first return visit to the White House since leaving office to tout the change to his signature domestic accomplishment.
The largest expansion of health care since the ACA’s passage in 2010 occurred through the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill Biden signed into law last year. That pandemic package increased Obamacare insurance subsidies to those who were already eligible for help through state and federal marketplaces. It also made help newly available to people earning more than four times the federal poverty level.
But the boost was only for two years.
Legislation to extend the expanded subsidies was part of Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan that stalled in the Senate.
Currently, a workplace plan is considered affordable if coverage solely for the employee costs less than 9.83% of the worker’s household income. That calculation doesn’t take into account the cost of including family members on the plan.
The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 5.1 million people are affected by how the IRS initially wrote the regulation when interpreting the ACA. For various reasons, not all of those affected would take up marketplace plans once the glitch is fixed. For example, since only the family members – and not the worker – would become eligible for a marketplace plan, some may find it more convenient to keep the entire family on one plan.
More:Record 14.5 million Americans sign up for Obamacare during open enrollment for 2022 plans
A record 14.5 million people bought an ACA marketplace plan during open enrollment for 2022 coverage.
Besides temporarily expanding subsidies,the administration also quadrupled the number of people available to assist with enrollment through HealthCare.gov.
Maureen Groppe has covered Washington for nearly three decades and is now a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. Follow her on Twitter @mgroppe.