The ACA Marketplace Handbook

$500 more income. $17,560 less help.

The enhanced subsidies ended with 2025. For 2027 the premium tax credit stops completely at 400% of the poverty line, and there is no longer any cap on what you repay at tax time if your income comes in higher than you guessed. In this book's worked example, a couple at $86,500 gets $17,560 toward their premiums. At $87,000 they get nothing. This handbook shows you where your own lines are and how to stay on the right side of them.

Inside:

• Estimate your 2027 income the way the IRS counts it, line by line, with the traps in Social Security, IRA withdrawals and side income
• Work out your own subsidy from the 2027 percentages, and what a bronze, silver or gold plan really costs you
• Open enrollment dates, the court fight over them, and the deadline that decides when coverage starts
• Self-employed, early retirees, families, immigrants and anyone whose income changes mid-year
• Form 8962 step by step, so you know what to expect at tax time
• A directory of every state exchange, with official dates where published and state subsidy programs

Checked against the source. Every number, date and rule was checked against federal law, IRS and CMS publications and court orders in October 2026, in separate fact-check passes. Each chapter ends with its sources.

General information, not advice. The examples use hypothetical households.