We’re a family of four with an income of $60,000 a year. What kinds of subsidies are available to help us purchase insurance through the exchanges?

Assuming you're in the continental U.S., your family's income puts you just under 187% of the 2025 federal poverty level for a family of four.¹ That income makes your kids eligible for CHIP or Medicaid in every state,² assuming they're eligible based on immigration status.³ So your premium subsidies in the exchange would be limited to the adults in the household, since subsidies are only available for people who aren't eligible for CHIP or Medicaid.

Note: To determine Marketplace subsidy eligibility for 2026, your household's projected 2026 income is compared with the 2025 FPL numbers. For the first few months of 2026, those same numbers are also used to determine Medicaid and CHIP eligibility. But Medicaid and CHIP eligibility determinations will start to be based on the 2026 FPL numbers sometime between February and April 2026 (depending on the state), after the 2026 FPL numbers are published in January 2026.

Premium tax credits

Premium tax credits cover some of the cost of monthly premiums for Marketplace coverage. These will be available for the adults in your household, and you can use the tax credits toward the purchase of any plan sold in the exchanges except a catastrophic plan.

Our subsidy calculator will let you estimate how much your subsidy will be, based on where you live and how old you are.

Plan availability varies significantly from one area to another, but you'll likely find quite a few affordable options.

Cost-sharing subsidies

In addition, cost-sharing subsidies (aka cost-sharing reductions, or CSR) can help reduce your deductible, co-pays, and out-of-pocket expenses. Cost-sharing subsidies are available only if you purchase a Silver plan and have a household income up to 250% of the poverty level (for 2026 coverage, that's $80,375 for a family of four).¹

Cost-sharing subsidies serve two purposes: they lower the plan's maximum out-of-pocket, and they also increase the plan's actuarial value (AV), which is a measure of the percentage of average total costs that a plan will pay (the average is across a standard population, not each specific person).

In 2026, the unsubsidized out-of-pocket maximum for an individual is $10,600 ($21,200 for a family). But enrollees who are eligible for cost-sharing subsidies can get plans with lower out-of-pocket limits, as long as they select Silver plans:

• For applicants with income between 100% and 200% of the poverty level, Silver plans have a maximum out-of-pocket of $3,500 ($7,000 for a family) in 2026.⁴
• Those with income between 200% and 250% of the poverty level can select a Silver plan with a maximum out-of-pocket of $8,450 ($16,900 for a family) in 2026. (Note that these amounts are adjusted each year for inflation.)
• Silver plans with built-in cost-sharing subsidies only appear on the exchange websites for applicants who qualify for them, and they're displayed in place of the regular (unsubsidized) Silver plans that would be displayed for applicants with income above 250% of the poverty level.

In your case, your income ($60,000 for a family of four) is just under 187% of the poverty level when 2026 subsidies are calculated.

This means you'd be eligible to get a Silver plan with a maximum out-of-pocket of no more than $7,000 for the family in 2026. But again, assuming the kids are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP, the Silver exchange plan would only cover the adults in the household (Medicaid and CHIP out-of-pocket limits are nominal, so they wouldn't add considerably to the family's total out-of-pocket exposure).

Cost-sharing subsidies also increase the AV of your Silver plan to between 73% and 94%. Normally, Silver plans have an AV of about 70%. But for enrollees eligible for cost-sharing subsidies, Silver plans will have higher AV. For enrollees with household income between:

• 100% to 150% of FPL, AV is increased to 94% (better than a Platinum plan)
• 150% to 200% of FPL, AV is increased to 87% (nearly as good as a Platinum plan - your family would be in this range)
• 200% to 250% of FPL, AV is increased to 73% (better than the normal 70% for a regular Silver plan)

The end result

Based on your income, your children will be eligible for CHIP or Medicaid.² So you'll only be paying for private insurance for the adults in your household.

As long as you select a Silver plan, your out-of-pocket exposure will be capped at no more than $7,000 for the family in 2026 (not including the children, since they'll be eligible for CHIP or Medicaid instead), and your plan will have an AV of roughly 87% (that means it will pay 87% of average expected claims, across all enrollees, including those with particularly high claims; for each individual enrollee, the portion of claims paid over the course of the year will vary considerably).

You'll also be eligible for a premium subsidy that will cover the bulk of the monthly premiums, making the coverage significantly more affordable than it would otherwise be.

Louise Norris is an individual health insurance broker who has been writing about health insurance and health reform since 2006. She has written hundreds of opinions and educational pieces about the Affordable Care Act for healthinsurance.org.