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A Smart Move on Tax Day: Get Health Insurance Information Using Your State’s Tax Forms
Maryland tax preparer, Diana Avellaneda, wants to ensure her clients avoid the financial risks of a medical emergency by taking advantage of a little-known feature of her state’s tax forms. Taxpayers can check a box on their forms, which triggers a “qualifying event” allowing them to sign up for insurance outside the traditional enrollment period and access subsidies if their income is low enough. By doing so, the state’s comptroller shares the taxpayer’s income information with the state’s insurance exchange, allowing individuals to receive a letter with an estimate of the financial assistance they qualify for. Avellaneda’s experience with clients applying for subsidized insurance shows that many qualified for assistance, even those with higher incomes.
A growing number of states, such as Colorado, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, are using tax forms to direct people to lower-cost coverage available through state insurance marketplaces. By next year, at least ten states will have a similar program, while Illinois is working on one as well. Initiatives such as these, known as ‘easy enrollment,’ make use of the existing infrastructure of tax paperwork to help states find and connect with people who would benefit from signing up for insurance.
The rise of these programs is happening during a time of significant change for health insurance as the end of some policies launched during the pandemic are forcing people to re-enroll in Medicaid or find new insurance. At the same time, marketplace subsidies created in response to the pandemic have been extended through 2025, highlighting the importance of directing people to health care coverage and maximizing federal dollars.
While these initiatives won’t cover everyone, they are a step in the right direction towards making signing up for health insurance easier and less costly for society. Uninsured individuals come with a high cost, and every effort to rectify that is a benefit.
This article is part of a partnership that includes WESA, NPR, and KFF Health News.
