The Kaiser Family Foundation, in a report released yesterday, pegs $2,700 as the average subsidy for health insurance purchased through the Obamacare Marketplaces beginning Oct. 1.
The subsidies come in the form of tax credits and are available to people earning less than four times the federal poverty level, about $94,200 a year for a family of four. The foundation estimates that 48 percent of people who currently buy insurance for themselves will be eligible for the subsidies, bringing the average subsidy for all consumers to $2,672, or about 32 percent of total cost.
“Tax subsidies are an essential part of the equation for many people who buy insurance through the new marketplaces,” says Drew Altman, chief executive officer of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Kaiser. “They will help make coverage more affordable for low- and middle-income people.”
The administration hopes to register 7 million people through the marketplaces for 2014, including 2.7 million young and healthy insurance purchasers.