Smart Money Podcast: Free Health Insurance and Finding Scholarships

Liz Weston: Welcome to the NerdWallet Smart Money podcast, where we answer your personal finance questions and help you feel a little smarter about what you do with your money. I’m Liz Weston.

Sean Pyles: And I’m Sean Pyles. To have your money questions answered on a future episode, turn to the Nerds. Call or text us on the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373. That’s 901-730-NERD, or email us at [email protected].

Liz: One last plug before we get to the episode, we want to hear from you, our listeners. We put together a quick two-question survey. You can find the link in the episode description. Please take a few seconds to fill it out. We’re always working to improve the show for our listeners, and this is your chance to help.

Sean: On with the show. On this episode, Liz and I answer a listener’s question about how to find scholarships and make higher education more affordable. First, though, in our This Week in Your Money segment, we’re talking about why you might be entitled to free health insurance right now. Liz, you recently wrote an article on just this topic. Can you give us the details of what people should know?

Liz: Absolutely. It’s really surprising how much change there has been with health insurance, but those $1,400 stimulus checks really stole all the headlines, so I think a lot of people missed some of the big changes. One of the biggest had to do with the changes in who qualifies for subsidies on the Obamacare exchanges.

Liz: Before the new relief package that President Biden signed in March, people with incomes greater than 400% of the poverty line typically didn’t qualify for subsidies. Now, people with incomes up to 600% of the poverty level can qualify. What that means is if you’re a single person and your income is just under $77,000, you can get a subsidy. If you have a family of four and your income’s about $157,000, again, you can qualify for subsidies. That’s a big change. A lot more people are going to get help.

Sean: I also understand that the relief package that passed in March also reduced premiums for the vast majority of people who get their own health insurance.

Liz: In fact, nearly half of the 29 million people who are now uninsured can qualify for a free plan. That’s a big change, yeah.

Liz: Yeah, it is. If you have income at, I think 150% of the poverty line, which is about $19,000 for a single person and just under $40,000 for a family of four, you can now qualify for zero-premium silver plans with annual deductibles of just $177. There’ve been some reduced cost-sharing measures and some other changes that have made these really affordable.

Sean: One of the other big changes also affects people who receive unemployment, which we know a lot of people have received. One thing that people should know is that if you get unemployment benefits for any part of 2021, you can qualify for a zero-premium silver plan with the ACA.

Liz: I know I’ve been telling my friends about this, and the reaction is, “No, that can’t possibly be true.” But, if you got even a single unemployment benefit check, you can get this free silver plan with all these cost-sharing reductions for free. Go check this out. This is really important.

Sean: Well, that brings me to my next question, which is how people can qualify and find these plans.

Liz: These plans need to be purchased through the Obamacare exchanges, the Affordable Care Act exchanges. Healthcare.gov is where most people can go. If you have a state plan, it will funnel you to your state plan. Otherwise, you can buy your insurance on healthcare.gov. If you already have a policy, the refunds should be automatic. You shouldn’t have to do anything. But, if you don’t have a plan, you should sign up if you qualify.

Sean: We’re currently in a special enrollment period that people can take advantage of through Aug. 15 of this year.

Liz: I wouldn’t wait, because you never want to be without healthcare insurance, but you do have some time to take advantage of these.

Sean: Well,…