Washington — The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Friday, in a prepublication version of Affordable Care Act (ACA) Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit regulations, signaled that future ACA rulemakings will address concerns raised by advocates for children and families about the affordability of employer-sponsored health insurance for children and spouses. The First Focus Campaign for Children and more than 100 other national and state advocates sent a letter in early March, urging the agency to fix a provision of the draft rule. That provision would determine whether an employer-sponsored health plan is affordable for an entire family based on the costs of coverage for the individual employee only, disregarding additional costs of family coverage. Because family coverage averages nearly triple the average cost of individual coverage, IRS’ initial proposal would have the effect of denying tax credits, and therefore affordable care, to employees’ spouses and children. In response to Friday’s news, First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley issued the following statement:

“We are pleased that the Treasury Department is continuing to consider the significant feedback they heard from advocates across the nation which calls on the Administration to deliver on the promise of affordable health care for every American family. We are hopeful that when the final rules are written, the Administration will not leave families with children high and dry.”

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