Premium tax credit

The premium tax credit (PTC) is a mechanism established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through which the United States federal government partially subsidizes the cost of private health insurance for certain lower- and middle-income individuals and families. The PTC is a refundable tax credit, and may be applied directly to the cost of insurance premiums.

The PTC is one of a host of ACA tax provisions and was first made available in 2014; it aims to make insurance affordable for lower- and middle-income U.S. residents who do not receive insurance through their employer and whose household income is too high to qualify for Medicaid.^[1][2] The PTC is only available to those who purchase insurance through the ACA-established health exchanges and meet the law's household income eligibility requirements. Under the ACA, only those households earning between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level (FPL) are eligible to receive the PTC; however, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 temporarily extended PTC eligibility to anyone making more than 100% of the FPL, and the Inflation Reduction Act extended that eligibility expansion through 2025. In 2023, more than 14 million people received the premium tax credit.^[3]