What income qualifies for ACA subsidies in 2024?
Executive summary
The core rule for 2024 is that Marketplace premium tax credits (ACA subsidies) are tied to the federal poverty level (FPL): households generally qualify if their income falls between 100% and 400% of the FPL, with important exceptions and state-by-state differences that can push the practical floor higher or extend assistance above the 400% line because of temporary federal enhancements through 2025 [1] [2] [3] [4]. Medicaid expansion, cost‑sharing reduction rules, household size and the ACA definition of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) all change who actually receives help and how much [5] [6] [1].
1. The headline rule: 100%–400% of the federal poverty level for 2024
For coverage year 2024, the conventional eligibility range cited across marketplace guides is between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level — meaning most people with household MAGI in that band are eligible for premium tax credits to reduce monthly premiums [1] [2] [3]. Multiple consumer-facing references and eligibility charts for 2024 describe subsidy qualification in those terms, and the FPL is indexed by household size so the dollar thresholds shift accordingly [1] [6].
2. The lower bound is affected by Medicaid expansion (the 138% cliff in many states)
Where a state has adopted Medicaid expansion, people with incomes below about 138% of the FPL are generally eligible for Medicaid rather than marketplace premium tax credits; marketplace subsidies typically begin above that expansion threshold, creating a de facto lower bound in expansion states [5]. In non‑expansion states the effective floor can be the 100% FPL line for subsidies, because those below 100% may not qualify for Medicaid under pre‑ACA rules and therefore can be eligible for marketplace assistance [5] [4].
3. Temporary federal enhancements blurred the 400% cutoff through 2025
The American Rescue Plan and subsequent enhancements removed the hard 400% FPL cutoff for subsidy receipt for the period through 2025, so many households with incomes above 400% FPL still received credits if benchmark premiums would otherwise exceed a fixed share of income; consumer guidance notes this temporary expansion through 2025, which means 2024 practice did not always enforce the strict 400% cap that older descriptions imply [4] [7] [1]. That policy nuance explains why some 2024 guidance still mentions people “sometimes beyond” 400% qualifying for subsidies [8].
4. Other program rules and plug‑in numbers matter: MAGI, household size, and state differences
Eligibility uses ACA‑specific MAGI (which differs slightly from raw wages), household composition, and annually updated FPL tables, so two households with the same gross pay can be treated differently; guidance repeatedly advises using the appropriate MAGI calculation and the correct year’s FPL table to convert percentages into dollar cutoffs [6] [9]. States can also layer on their own programs or have not expanded Medicaid, producing materially different outcomes at low incomes [5] [10].
5. Cost‑sharing reductions and other subsidy types have narrower ranges
Not all assistance is identical: cost‑sharing reductions that lower out‑of‑pocket costs on silver plans are typically targeted at households in a narrower band (commonly cited as 100%–250% FPL), even while premium tax credits cover a wider band [1]. The Congressional and IRS analyses emphasize that the premium tax credit formula itself uses income to determine the household contribution percentage, so eligibility and size of the credit are both income‑driven [7] [11].
6. What reporting does and does not show: limits and practical next steps
Public reporting and calculators give consistent guidance that 2024 subsidy eligibility centers on the 100%–400% FPL range but also note the real‑world complications — Medicaid expansion status, MAGI quirks, household size and temporary federal policy extensions that relaxed the 400% cutoff through 2025 — all of which affect whether a particular household qualifies and how much they receive [5] [4] [1] [9]. Sources provided do not include a single, universal dollar table for 2024 in this dataset; to convert percentages into exact 2024 dollar thresholds for a given household size requires consulting the corresponding year’s FPL table and running a MAGI calculation or a marketplace subsidy calculator [9] [6].