You May Be Eligible for New Financial Help for Health Insurance

Posted March 24, 2021

You may be able to get more help with your monthly health insurance premium and cost-sharing

If you sign up for health insurance through Vermont Health Connect, you may be able to get more affordable coverage due to the recent American Rescue Plan law. If you didn’t qualify for financial help before, you may be able to get subsidies this year. And if you already get financial help, you may be able to get more.

Who may be eligible to get the extra financial subsidies?

  • Vermonters already enrolled in a plan through Vermont Health Connect
  • Vermonters who don’t have insurance and want to enroll through Vermont Health Connect
  • Vermonters who have health insurance directly through an insurance company 

What do I do?

If you don't have insurance, you generally need to wait until open enrollment, which normally starts in November. The only time you can sign up for new coverage or change coverage outside of open enrollment is if you have a major life event. If you are already signed up, you may be able to switch to a different plan. If you are now directly enrolled in health insurance through an insurance company such as BCBSVT or MVP, you may be able to transfer your plan to Vermont Health Connect to take advantage of these subsidies.

With the new change, you do not have to pay back extra Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTC) you got in 2020

Did you have to repay Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTC) when you filed your 2020 taxes? If so, contact a tax preparer. The American Rescue Plan says you do not have to pay back APTC for the 2020 tax year. This is important for families whose income in 2020 came out to be more than they estimated. For example, they received unemployment or some other benefit that pushed their income up. 

See our page about Tax Filing Help. If you don’t use a tax preparer, check this page on the IRS website for updates on what you need to do to get that money back. 

What if you haven’t filed your 2020 taxes yet?

If it looks like you owe money for receiving too much APTC in 2020, check this page on the IRS website for updates.


Source URL: https://www.vtlawhelp.org/new-financial-help-health-insurance-ARPA

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