Does the ACA benefit the middle class?

As a bit of housekeeping, I want to post an example of how the middle class can benefit from the ACA. Much of the vitriol thrown at the new law relates to the fact that the GOP thinks it's a handout to the underserving poor. To test this, I'll use this fabulous tool which calculates how much help a hypothetical family receives to buy health insurance under the ACA.

First, we set the criteria as basically two non-smoking adults with two kids in Utah making a total of $45k/year.

The result?

So, the hypothetical family above would pay $221/mo ($2,650/12) for the Silver plan with the out-of-pocket maximum at $4500 and free preventive care. Here's an example Silver plan looks like with Altius. See healthcare.gov for a selection of plans.

$221/mo for solid health insurance for a family of four making $45k/yr? Looks like the ACA is set to benefit a large swath of the middle class. And good for them!

Postscript: To be more clear, this calculation is done assuming the family can't get insurance through an employer. To be even more clear, and for those who aren't aware, without the ACA a private health plan would cost substantially more than ~$221/mo.