Marketplace subsidy eligibility is not a judgment call. It is a dollar figure compared against a published table, and if you know which table applies you can work out your answer in about a minute.
The complication is that the marketplace does not use the current year’s poverty guidelines. It uses the previous year’s, so the numbers behind your 2027 plan were published in January 2026. Every figure below was pulled on September 6, 2026 from HHS, the IRS and the statute itself.
How the Marketplace Measures Your Income
The measure is modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), and it is not a line on your tax return. The IRS defines it for premium tax credit purposes as your adjusted gross income plus three add-backs:
- Any excluded foreign earned income
- Non-taxable Social Security benefits, including tier 1 railroad retirement benefits
- Tax-exempt interest received or accrued during the year
Supplemental Security Income is not included. Income sourced within Puerto Rico is also excluded from MAGI for this specific purpose.
Household income is the total MAGI of you plus every member of your family who is required to file a federal return. Your family, per the IRS, is you, your spouse if you file jointly, and everyone you claim as a dependent. Family size is simply the count of those people, and it includes people who do not need coverage themselves.
One thing trips people up constantly: you are estimating the coverage year’s income, not last year’s. HealthCare.gov is explicit that savings are based on your income estimate for the year you want coverage. Start with your most recent AGI and adjust it for what you actually expect.
Which Poverty Guidelines Apply to Which Year
Section 36B(c)(3)(B) says the poverty line used is “the most recently published poverty line as of the 1st day of the regular enrollment period” for that coverage year. The IRS restates it in plain terms: eligibility for a year is based on the most recently published guidelines on the first day of open enrollment, so the credit for 2025 was based on the 2024 guidelines.
That produces a one-year lag:
- 2026 coverage uses the 2025 HHS poverty guidelines.
- 2027 coverage uses the 2026 HHS poverty guidelines, because open enrollment for 2027 begins November 1, 2026 and the 2027 guidelines will not exist yet.
ACA Subsidy Income Limits for 2027 Coverage
These are the 2026 HHS poverty guidelines for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, and they govern 2027 marketplace coverage.
| Household size | 100% FPL | 138% FPL | 150% FPL | 200% FPL | 250% FPL | 400% FPL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,960 | $22,025 | $23,940 | $31,920 | $39,900 | $63,840 |
| 2 | $21,640 | $29,863 | $32,460 | $43,280 | $54,100 | $86,560 |
| 3 | $27,320 | $37,702 | $40,980 | $54,640 | $68,300 | $109,280 |
| 4 | $33,000 | $45,540 | $49,500 | $66,000 | $82,500 | $132,000 |
| 5 | $38,680 | $53,378 | $58,020 | $77,360 | $96,700 | $154,720 |
| 6 | $44,360 | $61,217 | $66,540 | $88,720 | $110,900 | $177,440 |
| 7 | $50,040 | $69,055 | $75,060 | $100,080 | $125,100 | $200,160 |
| 8 | $55,720 | $76,894 | $83,580 | $111,440 | $139,300 | $222,880 |
For households over eight people, add $5,680 to the 100% column for each additional person and scale from there. The 100% and 400% columns are the outer bounds of premium tax credit eligibility. The 138%, 150%, 200% and 250% columns are the internal thresholds that change what kind of help you get.
For 2026 coverage, the marketplace is still using the 2025 guidelines: $15,650 at 100% for one person, $21,150 for two, $26,650 for three and $32,150 for four. Multiply by four for the 400% ceiling, which gives $62,600, $84,600, $106,600 and $128,600. HealthCare.gov’s own glossary publishes both the 2025 and 2026 columns side by side, and they match the ASPE tables exactly.
Alaska and Hawaii Are Higher
HHS publishes three separate guidelines, and the two non-contiguous states get materially higher figures. From the 2026 guidelines, which apply to 2027 coverage:
| Household size | Alaska 100% | Alaska 400% | Hawaii 100% | Hawaii 400% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $19,950 | $79,800 | $18,360 | $73,440 |
| 2 | $27,050 | $108,200 | $24,890 | $99,560 |
| 3 | $34,150 | $136,600 | $31,420 | $125,680 |
| 4 | $41,250 | $165,000 | $37,950 | $151,800 |
Add $7,100 per extra person in Alaska and $6,530 in Hawaii to the 100% figure. An Alaskan single filer earning $70,000 is still under 400% of poverty and still subsidy-eligible, while the same person in Ohio is $6,000 over the line and gets nothing.
The 100% Floor and the Medicaid Gap
Below 100% of poverty, marketplace subsidies stop. That was designed on the assumption that Medicaid would pick everyone up, which is not what happened.
As of August 2026, KFF counts 41 states including DC that have adopted the ACA Medicaid expansion and 10 that have not: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming. In expansion states, adults up to 138% of poverty generally qualify for Medicaid, which is why that column sits in the table above.
In the non-expansion states, KFF’s July 2026 analysis estimates 1.2 million uninsured adults fall into the coverage gap: income too high for their state’s Medicaid program, too low for marketplace subsidies. Texas has the lowest parent eligibility threshold in the country at 15% of poverty, and with the exceptions of Wisconsin and Georgia, non-expansion states generally do not cover childless adults under 65 at any income unless they qualify on disability.
There used to be an escape hatch. Section 36B(c)(1)(B) let certain lawfully present immigrants below 100% of poverty, who were barred from Medicaid by immigration status, claim the premium tax credit anyway. That subparagraph was repealed by Public Law 119-21, effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025. The corresponding marketplace regulation at 45 CFR 155.305(f)(2) now reads “[Reserved].”
If you are under the floor, your realistic options are your state Medicaid agency, a community health center on a sliding scale, and hospital charity care for anything large.
The 250% Line: Cost-Sharing Reductions
At 250% of poverty a second, separate benefit shuts off. Under 45 CFR 155.305(g), the marketplace must find you eligible for cost-sharing reductions if you qualify for advance premium tax credits and your expected household income does not exceed 250% of the federal poverty line.
The regulation sets three tiers, and the discount gets steeper the lower your income:
- 100% through 150% of poverty: silver plan with a 94% actuarial value
- Over 150% through 200%: 87% actuarial value
- Over 200% through 250%: 73% actuarial value
The catch is that these attach only to silver plans. Buy bronze because the premium looks cheaper and you throw the entire benefit away. Our cost-sharing reduction guide has the actual out-of-pocket ceilings for 2026 and 2027.
The 400% Cliff
Above 400% of poverty the premium tax credit is not reduced. It is eliminated.
This is worth stating carefully because a lot of published advice is out of date. From 2021 through 2025, a temporary rule in section 36B(c)(1)(E) applied the eligibility test “without regard to” the 400% ceiling, so people above the line still received a capped credit. That rule expired on December 31, 2025 and was not extended. The statute now reads the way it did before 2021, IRS Revenue Procedure 2026-26 publishes a 2027 percentage table that terminates at “at least 300% but not more than 400%,” and HealthCare.gov states that the pandemic-era additional savings ended December 31, 2025.
The cliff is a genuine edge, not a slope. At exactly 400% of poverty your expected contribution is 9.96% of income in 2026 and 10.22% in 2027, and any benchmark premium above that is covered. One dollar over and you pay the whole premium yourself.
If you are near the line, the levers that move MAGI are the ordinary ones: deductible traditional IRA or solo 401(k) contributions, HSA contributions if you are on a qualifying plan, and for the self-employed, timing of income and deductible business expenses. Getting the estimate right matters more than it used to, because as of the 2026 tax year there is no cap on repaying an overpaid advance premium tax credit when you reconcile on Form 8962.
Bottom Line
Find your household size, find your coverage year’s guideline table, and compare your estimated MAGI. Between 100% and 400% you get a premium tax credit; at or under 250% you also get cost-sharing reductions if you buy silver; under 100% you are looking at Medicaid or, in ten states, at nothing. The expiration of the enhanced credits made that 400% number decisive again, and the subsidy expiration guide covers what it did to real premiums. If you are close to a threshold, run the arithmetic before you file your marketplace application, not after.