Free tool · Educational estimate

2027 ACA Marketplace FPL & Savings Eligibility Estimator

Check your estimated Marketplace Federal Poverty Level (FPL) range and learn which 2027 savings programs may apply. This tool does not calculate a tax-credit dollar amount or make an eligibility decision.

Step 1

Enter Your Household Details

Household Size
1 person

Include yourself, your spouse, and any tax dependents.

What counts?

MAGI Income Cheat Sheet

✓ Include:

  • W-2 Wages & Salary
  • Self-Employment Net Profit
  • Social Security Benefits
  • Unemployment Benefits
  • Taxable Interest & Gains
  • Retirement Withdrawals

✗ Exclude (Omit):

  • Child Support Received
  • Gifts & Inheritances
  • Life Insurance Payouts
  • SSI Benefits
  • Workers' Compensation
  • VA Disability Benefits

*Self-employed: Report Net profit (gross minus deductible expenses) rather than gross revenues. Self-employed health insurance premiums are deductible.

Your Calculation Result

0%

Calculate Results

Enter your household details to view an educational FPL range and the savings programs that may apply.

Plan-Year 2027 Marketplace Federal Poverty Level Reference

Household Size100% FPL (Base)150% FPL250% FPL (CSR reference)400% FPL (general PTC limit)
1$15,960$23,940$39,900$63,840
2$21,640$32,460$54,100$86,560
3$27,320$40,980$68,300$109,280
4$33,000$49,500$82,500$132,000
5$38,680$58,020$96,700$154,720

Sources and limits: Plan-year 2027 Marketplace premium tax credit ranges use the 2026 HHS poverty guidelines. The IRS Premium Tax Credit guidance explains the general 100%–400% range for 2027. Medicaid uses current guidelines and state-specific rules. Actual Marketplace eligibility and credit amounts require a full application and local benchmark-plan data.

100–150% FPL

May qualify for a premium tax credit plus stronger Silver-plan cost-sharing reductions.

150–250% FPL

May qualify for a premium tax credit and cost-sharing reductions on Silver plans.

250–400% FPL

May qualify for a premium tax credit; the amount depends on age, location, and the benchmark plan.

Want a licensed broker to check your numbers?

Mercy can confirm your eligibility and compare available plans at no out-of-pocket cost.

Compare Plans with MercyMore free tools

What this estimator does, and what it cannot do

This tool places your household against the federal poverty level guidelines and indicates whether premium tax credits are likely to be in play. That is a useful orientation step, and for many households it is the first time they learn financial help is even a possibility.

It is not an eligibility determination. Only the Marketplace can determine eligibility, and it does so using information this tool does not collect: your exact household composition for tax purposes, immigration status, whether anyone has an offer of employer coverage that meets affordability and minimum value tests, whether anyone is eligible for Medicaid or CHIP, and the actual benchmark plan premium in your specific county.

Treat the output as a reason to complete a real application, not as a number to budget against. The gap between an estimate and a determination is frequently large enough to change which plan makes sense.

Why the federal poverty level matters so much

Almost every threshold in Marketplace eligibility is expressed as a percentage of the federal poverty level for your household size. Cost-sharing reductions are limited to households under 250%. Medicaid expansion, in states that adopted it, covers adults up to 138%. In states that did not expand, premium tax credits generally begin at 100% — and below that line sits the coverage gap.

One detail catches people out: Marketplace eligibility for a given plan year uses the prior year's federal poverty guidelines, not the current year's. That is why an estimate run against this year's published figures can differ slightly from what the application returns.

Household size for this calculation is your tax household, which is not always the same as the people living in your home. A dependent you claim who lives elsewhere counts; a roommate does not. Getting household size wrong is one of the most common sources of a surprising result.

Estimating income when your income is not predictable

The application asks for expected modified adjusted gross income for the coverage year — a forward-looking estimate, not last year's tax return. For salaried households this is straightforward. For self-employed workers, contractors, seasonal employees, and commission earners it is genuinely hard, and it is where most reconciliation problems begin.

Estimate realistically rather than optimistically or defensively. If you under-estimate and earn more, you may repay some or all of the credits when you file. If you over-estimate, you pay more each month than necessary and recover it only at tax time. Either way the money is reconciled — the estimate mainly controls when you feel it.

If your income changes materially during the year, report it to the Marketplace at that point rather than waiting. Mid-year updates adjust your credit going forward and reduce the size of any reconciliation.

Common reasons an estimate differs from your actual result

When an estimate and a real Marketplace determination diverge, it is almost always one of a handful of causes rather than an error in the arithmetic.

The most frequent is household size. The Marketplace counts your tax household — the people you claim on your return — which can include a dependent living elsewhere and exclude an adult relative living with you. A one-person difference shifts your federal poverty level percentage materially.

The second is an employer coverage offer. If anyone in the household has access to employer coverage that meets federal affordability and minimum value tests, that can eliminate premium tax credit eligibility for the household even if nobody enrolled in it. Since 2023, affordability of family coverage is assessed against the family premium rather than the employee-only premium, which changed the outcome for many households.

The third is the benchmark premium itself. Subsidies are calculated against the second-lowest-cost Silver plan in your specific county, and that plan's premium is a real filed number that no general estimator can know in advance.

Finally, Medicaid. In expansion states, a household under 138% of the federal poverty level is generally routed to Medicaid rather than to subsidised Marketplace coverage — a better outcome, but a different one than an estimator predicts.

What to do with the result

If the estimate suggests you may qualify for premium tax credits, the next step is a real application rather than more estimating. Eligibility is determined by the Marketplace, and only an application produces the actual number.

If it suggests you may fall under 250% of the federal poverty level, look specifically at Silver plans before ranking anything by premium. Cost-sharing reductions attach only to Silver, and for a qualifying household the improvement in deductible and out-of-pocket maximum frequently outweighs the premium saving on a Bronze plan across a year of real use.

If it suggests you may be under your state's Medicaid threshold, check Medicaid first. It has no enrollment window, applications are accepted year-round, and where eligibility exists it is generally the better outcome. In expansion states that threshold is 138% of the federal poverty level; in non-expansion states, eligibility is category-based and a coverage gap may exist below the premium tax credit floor.

And if it suggests no financial help, that is still worth verifying through an application, particularly if your income varies or your household composition is unusual. An estimate built on the wrong household size is the most common reason a household concludes it does not qualify when it does.

Reconciliation, and why the estimate matters at tax time

Premium tax credits are advanced during the year based on your estimated income, then reconciled against your actual income when you file. That reconciliation is why the estimate is consequential rather than merely indicative.

If you earned less than estimated, you generally receive the difference as a credit when you file. If you earned more, you may repay some or all of the excess. Repayment amounts are capped for households under 400% of the federal poverty level, but the caps still represent real money, and above that threshold repayment can be substantial.

You can also decline advance payment entirely and claim the full credit when you file, which avoids repayment risk at the cost of paying full premium each month. For households with genuinely unpredictable income, that trade is sometimes worth making.

The practical protection is simpler than either option: update the Marketplace when your income changes materially during the year. Mid-year updates adjust the advance amount going forward and keep the reconciliation small in either direction.

If the result surprises you

A result that seems too good or too poor is usually an input problem rather than a system problem, and it is worth re-running before drawing a conclusion.

Re-check household size against your tax return rather than your household, re-check whether you included everyone's income, and re-check whether an employer coverage offer exists anywhere in the household. Those three inputs account for the large majority of surprising results, and any of them can move an estimate substantially in either direction.