It may sound crazy in theory, but the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) actually has in place two penalties that target those who are married.
The first penalty strongly encourages individuals to cohabitate instead of marrying. For health insurance, two singles living together who each earn $30,000 would easily qualify for assistance using a subsidy threshold. However, two people who are married and earning a combined $60,000 a year would not qualify for any assistance, as the 400 percent FPL is $58,000.
The second penalty applies to taxes paid by single individuals versus a married couple or family. This taxation issue is explained well by Chris Jacobs with the Republican Policy Committee who explains that “The higher taxes apply to incomes of $200,000 for a single individual, but $250,000 for a family. Thus a married couple with wage earnings of $195,000 each will pay $5,320 more in taxes than two single persons with the same salary.”
Both of these issues affecting marriage in the US are further explained in a Real Clear Markets piece.
