There’s been a lot of focus – including in my column today – on the subsidies that the health-overhaul bills would provide to aid lower-income people in paying their health insurance premiums. But there’s another twist that may matter just as much to consumers: how much help those same folks will get with their out-of-pocket costs. This varies between the different bills now working their way through Congress. And as lawmakers try to crunch costs, these subsidies may be easier to trim because they’re less visible than the premium subsidies. The House bill , at least in its current incarnation, would provide credits that would rein in out-of-pocket costs for people between 133% and 350% of the federal poverty level, which is around $38,000 for an individual and about $77,000 for a family of four. They’re on a

sliding scale, so people making up to 150% of poverty only have to pay around 3% of the costs of their covered benefits, while those at 350% pay 28%. At 400%, folks pay 30%, but that’s the minimum for plans anyhow in that bill. The Senate Finance bill would help less, fitting with Sen. Baucus’s effort to keep the bill’s price tag down. Those between 100% and 150% of poverty would only have to pay around 10% of the cost of their covered care. From 150% to 200%, it’d be 20%. The credits don’t appear to go to people making more than 200% of the poverty level, which is around $22,000 for an individual and about $44,000 for a family of four.

Read the rest here: 
Health Care Bills Subsidize Out-of-Pocket Costs for Some