Number of U.S. people in the 'family glitch' in 2019, by select demographics

In 2019, it was estimated that roughly 5.1 million dependents fell under the 'family glitch', with over half being children. Most of the dependents still had health insurance through their family member's employer-sponsored insurance (ESI), although 451 thousand were uninsured. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace subsidies can be available for people whose ESI is deemed unaffordable - if the worker's contribution for self-coverage is more than 9.83 percent of their household income. This affordability threshold does not take into account family coverage, which is more costly and employers are not required to contribute towards. Therefore, family members of workers whose self-coverage ESI is deemed affordable are not eligible for financial assistance on the marketplace even if family coverage premiums far exceed 9.83 percent of their household income. These dependent family members fall under the 'family glitch'. This statistic presents the number of dependents that fall in the 'family glitch' in the U.S. in 2019, by insurance coverage, income, gender, and age (in thousands).