Some 17 million could be eligible for health care subsidies

A new study estimates that more than 17 million people are eligible for a tax credit to buy health care through the online exchange healthcare.gov, created for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's health care overhaul that will go into full effect early next year.

The analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation released Tuesday looked at people who don't have insurance through employers and who don't qualify for Medicaid plans for the very poor.

The tax credits are based on individual income levels relative to the federal poverty level, and can be used on any type of insurance plan offered on the exchange. Kaiser has created a "subsidy calculator" on its website that will help consumers estimate how much their costs would be under the various insurance plans and how much of a subsidy they would receive if they are eligible.

Those with incomes between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level are potentially eligible for a subsidy, provided their employer doesn't provide health coverage and they are not eligible for Medicaid.

According to Kaiser, even though immigrants in the country are not legally eligible for Medicaid, they are eligible for tax credits on the exchange if they meet the income requirements.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 7 million people will enroll in health plans through the online exchange by the end of 2014, and 20 million by 2018. It is unclear how or if the recent glitches plaguing the beleaguered website will impact those enrollment estimates. President Barack Obama's administration has said it will release numbers about the number of enrollees in mid-November.

California, Florida, New York and Texas have the largest amount of people eligible for federal subsidies, accounting for more than 6.3 million of the 17 million people eligible across the country.

With The Associated Press