Biden Fixes Family Glitch – Family Glitch Rule Finalized

President Biden’s proposed rule to fix the family glitch has been finalized.

A fix to the long-standing “Family Glitch” was finalized on October 11th, 2022. The so-called glitch stopped some family members from being able to get marketplace insurance and assistance if they had access to employer-based coverage that was technically affordable under the ACA rules but not practically affordable.

The law now says that the employee’s contribution amount for the whole family can’t cost more than 9.5% (adjusted) of taxable household income

The law as previously written said that each family member’s individual coverage offered by an employer had to cost more than 9.5% (adjusted) of taxable household income. That had been resulting in situations where family members would pay much more for coverage through an employer than they would through the marketplace while also not qualifying for marketplace cost assistance. And this had led to families paying far over 9.5% of income in health insurance premiums as well as family members going without coverage.

Luckily, the new employer affordability test now counts all covered members, thus fixing the family glitch.

UPDATE: See Affordability of Employer Coverage for Family Members of Employees for finalized rule.