ACA marketplace – is this really as good as it gets? (US, TX)

Hi there! This is only tangentially related to my other post… Not trying to spam, I promise!

I helped my partner (soon to be 26FtM, still legally F) (not married) navigate the process to get set up with an ACA policy. We wound up picking a UHC Bronze plan with dental coverage. His income (part-time, hourly) is about $12,600 per the site's estimate (this is just a projection of what he's looking at in 2025) and as a result he's being denied for subsidies/tax credits/etc because this falls below the lovely $15,600 threshold.

We did call the Marketplace service reps and they stated that unless partner's income is within their range they can't lower the premium from a whopping $341/month.

My partner doesn't have to pay his first premium until 2/1/25, so in the meantime we're taking time to think about this. I think for the time being we might just wind up going through the county hospital system and their insurance/discount plan.

Are we doing something wrong? Is there a state marketplace I should apply through instead? I know we just passed the Marketplace deadline but since he's turning 26 this is a QLE correct?

Thanks in advance! I'm overwhelmed

submitted by /u/phoneenjoyer
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