ACA subsidy calculator (2026)
The enhanced subsidies expired and the 400% cliff is back. Three inputs — see your 2026 premium tax credit and exactly how close you are to the edge.
Your inputs
ACA MAGI = AGI + tax-exempt interest + untaxed foreign income + your full Social Security benefit (taxable and non-taxable parts).
The second-lowest-cost Silver plan for your household — look yours up at healthcare.gov (it varies by zip code and age). This is the reference premium the credit is computed against, not necessarily the plan you buy.
You’re at 307% of the poverty line with $19,600 of MAGI headroom before the 400% cliff at $84,600.
Your estimated credit
Annual premium tax credit
$12,726
That's $1,061/month off your premium.
What moves MAGI
Roth conversions and pre-tax IRA/401(k) withdrawals raise ACA MAGI dollar-for-dollar. Qualified Roth withdrawals don't count at all, and neither does spending cash savings. That makes the years between early retirement and Medicare a balancing act: every dollar you convert to Roth chips away at this credit — and near the 400% line, one conversion dollar too many can erase five figures of subsidy at once. Tax-exempt muni interest and your full Social Security benefit (including the non-taxable part) count toward MAGI too.
This is a single-year snapshot.
The real question is multi-year: how much can you convert to Roth each year before Medicare without forfeiting subsidies, and what does crossing the cliff actually cost against the lifetime tax savings? Granary models your conversions, withdrawals, and ACA credit together, year by year.
Get the full picture →How this calculator works
The premium tax credit is the gap between a benchmark premium and what the law expects your household to pay. We compute your income as a percentage of the federal poverty line (the 2025 HHS guidelines, which govern 2026 marketplace coverage), look up your applicable percentage in the IRS table for 2026 (Rev. Proc. 2025-25), and multiply it by your MAGI to get your expected contribution. Your estimated credit is the benchmark Silver premium minus that contribution — never less than zero. The credit can be applied to any marketplace plan, not just the benchmark one.
Why 2026 is different: the cliff is back
From 2021 through 2025, the ARPA/IRA “enhanced” credits capped everyone's contribution at 8.5% of income with no upper income limit. Those enhancements expired December 31, 2025, and Congress did not extend them for 2026 — the House passed a three-year extension in January 2026, but it stalled in the Senate. So 2026 runs on baseline law: the applicable percentages are higher at every income level, and the 400%-of-FPL subsidy cliff returned. Earn one dollar over 400% of the poverty line ($62,600 single, $84,600 couple, $128,600family of four) and the entire credit disappears — there's no phase-out. For households near the line, that makes the effective marginal cost of extra income — a Roth conversion, a capital gain, an extra IRA withdrawal — enormous.
What this calculator doesn't model
- Your actual benchmark premium. The second-lowest-cost Silver plan depends on your zip code, age, and who's on the policy. Look up the real number at healthcare.gov or your state exchange — the estimate is only as good as this input.
- Alaska and Hawaii. Both have higher poverty guidelines; this page uses the 48-contiguous-states table, so it understates your FPL headroom there.
- Medicaid and the coverage gap. Below 138% FPL the right answer is usually Medicaid (in expansion states), not a marketplace credit; we flag it but don't model state-by-state rules.
- Cost-sharing reductions, employer coverage offers, and mid-year income changes — all of which affect what you actually pay.
- Reconciliation. The credit is settled on your tax return against actual MAGI; advance payments based on a low estimate get clawed back.
This is a planning estimate under the rules as verified in mid-2026 — not tax, legal, or insurance advice. If Congress retroactively extends the enhanced credits, the cliff math on this page changes.