Home/Calculators/Subsidy cliff checker
The enhanced premium tax credits expired on 1 January 2026, and the old cliff came back with them. At 400% of the federal poverty level, help stops. Not tapers, stops. One dollar of income decides it.
What you'll need
Household size and the income you expect for the year the coverage is for.
What you get
Where the 400% cliff sits for a household your size, and how much room you have before one dollar of income takes the credit to zero.
Modified adjusted gross income for the whole household, as you expect it to be next year.
The cliff is a threshold, not a slope, which makes it one of the few places in the tax code where earning slightly more can leave you meaningfully worse off. Being $500 over can cost thousands in lost credit.
What counts is modified adjusted gross income, and some of it is inside your control. Contributions that reduce MAGI can move you back under the line:
Deliberately managing income to stay under a threshold is legitimate tax planning, but the arithmetic has to be right and the timing matters. Talk to a tax professional before relying on it.
Marketplace eligibility for a coverage year uses the poverty guidelines published the year before, so 2027 coverage runs on the 2026 figures.
| Household size | 100% FPL | 400% FPL, the cliff |
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Figures are for the 48 contiguous states and DC. Alaska and Hawaii have their own, higher guidelines, so this tool does not apply to them; the official figures are published at ASPE. Checked 28 July 2026.
It does not calculate your credit. The amount depends on the second-lowest-cost silver plan in your specific area at your specific age, which varies by county and cannot be derived from income alone. Anything claiming to give you a precise subsidy figure without asking where you live is guessing.
What it does tell you is the part that is knowable from income and household size: which side of the line you are on, and how much room you have. For the actual dollar amount, run your details through the official calculator at Healthcare.gov or your state exchange during open enrollment.
The American Rescue Plan temporarily removed the 400% cliff and capped premiums at 8.5% of income for everyone above it. That expansion, extended once, expired on 1 January 2026 after the Senate failed to reach agreement. Eligibility reverted to the original Affordable Care Act structure, which ends entirely at 400% of the federal poverty level.
Some states have put their own subsidies or reinsurance programs in place, but KFF puts the combined state effort at a small fraction of the roughly $35 billion a year the federal expansion cost. If you are just over the line, it is worth checking whether your state has anything.
Compare plans by total annual cost and find the break-even point.
Which account nets you more, and what an HSA does to your MAGI.
What continuing your old plan really costs at 102% of premium.
Then the cliff probably is not your problem, and the real money is in which plan you pick. Benefits Decoder reads your whole guide and prices every option, including the ones you would have skipped.
Not tax or insurance advice. This compares the income figure you enter against published federal poverty guidelines. It does not know your household's tax situation, your state's programs, or your local plan prices, and it does not calculate a credit amount. Your eligibility is determined by the marketplace when you apply.
Nothing you type here is sent anywhere. The calculator runs entirely in your browser.