Key Findings

Beginning in 2014, new tax cuts will be available that will significantly reduce the cost of private health insurance for individuals and families. These tax cuts will be provided in the form of tax credits to offset a portion of the cost of health insurance premiums.

Numbers of People Eligible for the Tax Cut (Premium Tax Credit)

• Nationally, approximately 28.6 million Americans will be eligible for these new premium tax credits in 2014).
• People in working families—those with annual incomes at or above 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($44,100 for a family of four in 2010)—will constitute nearly two-thirds (65.6 percent) of the people who will be eligible for a premium tax credit.

Total Value of the Tax Cut to Help People Pay Health Insurance Premiums

• The total annual value of the tax cut (tax credits) that Americans will be eligible to receive to help pay premiums in 2014 will be approximately $110.1 billion.
• Although nearly two-thirds of the people who will be eligible for these premium tax credits will have incomes at or above twice the poverty level, because the size of the tax credit will be determined on a sliding scale based on income, more than half of the dollars from the tax cut (56 percent) will be targeted to lower-income families–families with incomes below 200 percent of poverty.

Working Families

• The vast majority of people who will be eligible for the premium tax credit—95 percent—will be in working families.
• Nationally, nearly 24.8 million people—the majority of those who will be eligible for premium tax credits—will be in families with a worker who is employed full-time.
• Another 2.5 million people will be in families with a worker who is employed part-time.

Help for Employees of Small Businesses

• More than half of those who will be eligible for the premium tax credit will work for small businesses with fewer than 100 workers (52.9 percent).
• Approximately 15.2 million people will be in families with a primary worker who is employed by a business with fewer than 100 workers.
• Approximately 11.4 million people will be in families with a primary worker who is employed by a business with fewer than 25 workers.

Help for People with and without Health Coverage

• Nearly 13.8 million uninsured people will be eligible for a premium tax credit that will help them purchase health insurance.
• Approximately 14.8 million insured people will be eligible for a premium tax credit that will relieve some of the burden of health costs by making health care premiums more affordable.