ACA Health Insurance Subsidy Calculator
See your estimated ACA premium tax credit and exactly how much income you can realize this year before the 400%-of-poverty-line subsidy cliff wipes it out.
People on your tax return.
Modified adjusted gross income — what a Roth conversion or capital-gains harvest controls.
Used only to show years remaining until Medicare eligibility at 65.
Your estimated annual credit
$4,020
You pay $4,980 (9.96% of income) toward a $9,000 plan.
$13,840 of headroom before the cliff
35 years until Medicare eligibility at 65 — this cliff check applies every one of them, and next year's FPL and percentage table will differ from 2026-08-12's.
Alaska and Hawaii use separate, higher poverty guidelines not supported here — do not use this tool for an AK/HI household.
How this works
Applies the IRS's applicable-percentage table (Rev. Proc. 2025-25 §3.01, figures as of 2026-08-12) to your income as a percentage of the federal poverty line, then computes your expected annual contribution toward the benchmark (second-lowest-cost) silver plan and the credit that covers the rest.
Within each of the table's six income bands the applicable percentage is linearly interpolated between the band's starting and ending values; the lowest band (under 133% of FPL) and the highest (300-400%) are flat.
The enhanced premium tax credits that removed the income cap expired 2025-12-31, so for 2026 there is a hard cliff at 400% of FPL: at 9.96% of income you still get a credit, one dollar past it you get none. The calculator's headroom figure exists to show that boundary before you cross it, not after.
Key assumptions
- Federal poverty guidelines are the 2026 HHS/ASPE 48-state + DC schedule ($15,960 for one person, rising by a constant $5,680 per additional household member). Alaska and Hawaii publish separate, higher guidelines that this calculator does not support — using the 48-state figures for an AK/HI household would understate its poverty-line distance and overstate the subsidy, so those states are called out explicitly rather than silently mishandled.
- Below 100% of FPL, the calculator reports no premium tax credit rather than guessing: the ACA credit was never available below that floor (expansion-state households are expected to qualify for Medicaid instead; non-expansion states have a coverage gap this tool does not model).
- You supply the benchmark silver plan's annual premium yourself — this is a static site with no live plan pricing, and quoting a number it cannot verify would be worse than asking for one.
- A multi-year projection to age 65 holds the 2026 FPL and applicable-percentage figures constant for every future year, which is the only way to project at all before next year's guidelines are published — but it means the projection is only as good as that assumption holding.
What this leaves out
- State Medicaid expansion status and the non-expansion coverage gap below 100% of FPL.
- Cost-sharing reductions (the separate subsidy that lowers deductibles and copays for incomes under 250% of FPL) — this tool only models the premium tax credit.
- Employer coverage, COBRA, and short-term plan alternatives.
- Any plan-specific pricing — you must supply your own benchmark premium.
Related calculators
A worked example: the cliff at 400% of the poverty line
A one-person household with a $9,000 benchmark silver plan realizes $27,930 of income for the year — exactly 175% of the 2026 poverty line of $15,960. That falls in the 150-200%-of-FPL band, where the applicable percentage is linearly interpolated between 4.19% at 150% and 6.60% at 200%: 4.19 + (6.60 − 4.19) × (175 − 150)/(200 − 150) = 5.3950%. The household is expected to contribute 5.3950% of income, or $1,506.82, and the credit covers the remaining $7,493.18 of the premium.
Now push the same household's realized income to $63,840 — exactly 400% of FPL, the top of the flat 9.96% band. The required contribution rises to $6,358.46 and the credit shrinks to $2,641.54, but it is still there. Realize one more dollar, $63,841, and the household crosses 400.01% of FPL — past the cliff the applicable-percentage table simply stops applying. There is no credit at all, and the entire $2,641.54 disappears for one dollar of income.
This is the number a Roth-conversion or capital-gains-harvesting decision actually needs: not 'what is my premium,' but 'how much more can I realize this year before the subsidy falls off a cliff, and how much do I lose if I go one dollar past it.' For this household, at $60,000 of income (375.94% of FPL, comfortably inside the flat top band) there is $3,840 of headroom before the $63,840 cliff line, and the entire $2,641.54 credit is what's riding on staying under it.
Frequently asked questions
Why is there a hard cliff instead of a gradual phase-out?
The American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act temporarily removed the 400%-of-FPL cap and let the credit taper toward zero above it instead of vanishing outright. That enhancement expired December 31, 2025. For plan year 2026, IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-25 reinstates the original ACA structure: the applicable-percentage table only goes up to 400% of the poverty line, and there is no credit at all above it. One dollar of realized income can cost thousands of dollars of subsidy — this calculator exists to show that boundary before you cross it.
What counts as income for this calculation?
Modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) for the tax year — roughly your AGI plus any tax-exempt interest, excluded foreign income, and non-taxable Social Security benefits. For an early retiree, this is the number a Roth conversion or a capital-gains harvest directly controls, which is exactly why the cliff is a planning lever rather than a fixed cost.
Why doesn't this calculator know my actual premium?
This is a static site with no connection to any state or federal marketplace, and plan pricing varies by county, insurer, and year. Enter the benchmark (second-lowest-cost) silver plan premium you find on your marketplace directly — the calculator applies the subsidy math to the number you supply, not a guess.
What happens below 100% of the poverty line?
The premium tax credit was never available below 100% of FPL. In the 41 states (plus DC) that expanded Medicaid, a household there typically qualifies for Medicaid instead. In the states that did not expand it, that income range is the well-documented 'coverage gap' — too much income for Medicaid, too little for a marketplace credit. This calculator reports no credit in that range rather than estimating one that may not exist, but it does not model Medicaid eligibility or the coverage gap itself.
Does this apply to Alaska or Hawaii?
No. Alaska and Hawaii publish separate, higher federal poverty guidelines than the other 48 states and DC, and this calculator only implements the 48-state schedule. Applying the lower 48-state FPL to an Alaska or Hawaii household would understate its distance from the poverty line and overstate its subsidy, so those two states are excluded rather than silently mishandled — use the HHS guidelines directly if you live in either.
Will these percentages and poverty guidelines still be right next year?
No — both are dated 2026 figures that the IRS and HHS republish annually, and a multi-year projection to age 65 necessarily holds them constant because next year's numbers don't exist yet. Treat any projection more than a year or two out as a rough planning shape, not a locked-in number, and re-check this page's 'figures as of' date each year you use it.
Sources
- Rev. Proc. 2025-25
Internal Revenue Service — checked 2026-08-12
Sets the plan-year 2026 applicable-percentage table this calculator uses to compute a household's required premium contribution at its income-as-%-of-FPL band, including the reinstated 400%-of-FPL cliff.
- Poverty Guidelines
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (ASPE) — checked 2026-08-12
Source of the 48-contiguous-states-plus-DC federal poverty line figures this calculator uses to compute a household's percentage of FPL. Alaska and Hawaii publish separate, higher guidelines this calculator does not implement.
*This is a planning estimate, not tax or insurance advice — it is not connected to any marketplace and cannot know your actual eligibility, plan pricing, or state Medicaid rules. Confirm your numbers with your marketplace and a tax professional before making an irreversible income decision.