Many families with unaffordable employer coverage now eligible for Covered California subsidies – By Bernard J. Wolfson (Salon) / Jan 7, 2023
Under a new rule, California families with expensive workplace healthcare plans could see relief from the state
If having the family on your employer-sponsored health plan has been a financial hardship, or outright impossible to afford, help may be on the way.
The federal government recently fixed a controversial Treasury Department rule tied to the Affordable Care Act that denied assistance to many families whose workplace coverage busted their budgets.
Because of the so-called family glitch, if a worker had access to employee-only coverage deemed affordable under federal guidelines, a spouse or dependents could not get help to buy a health plan through Covered California, the state’s ACA insurance marketplace, even if it was not affordable to put them on the employer plan.
This affected an estimated 5.1 million people nationally, more than half of them children, since employers often contribute only to an employee’s premium, leaving workers to pay full fare for other family members.
