Heathcare.gov Subsidies

Hi Terry,
I read your article in Sunday’s paper about new higher premium subsidies via Healthcare.gov. My husband is 67 and on Medicare and his supplemental costs about $360/month. When I do my application I have to include him on my application even though only I am getting coverage. Our income of $104k is primarily his Fire Department pension. My social security (I am currently 62) is $1561/month.

Last year I received a subsidy of $101/month. This year, I do not qualify for any subsidy because of the benchmark rule on the silver plan. My question is why the government website does not take into consideration or even ask what we pay for my husband’s medicare supplemental and considers then entire $104k income is all considered solely my income for calculating the subsidy.

I must pay the full premium of $670/month this year. When I put both of us in to be covered via the method suggested in your article (as if he was not on medicare) I would only have to pay about $70 more a month for both of us to be covered because we would have a $680 subsidy.

It just makes no sense to me so I called the Marketplace to double check and the representative confirmed it was the silver plan benchmark for our area which eliminates the subsidy for me this year.

is there a way to include his medicare costs to count in the calculation? With that insurance expense we are well over the 8.5% of total income.

Thanks for taking a look at this. We enjoy your columns.