IRS: 2014 PPACA exchange users received $30 billion in subsidies

A new report from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) shows how spending at two major Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) public exchange subsidy programs grew between federal fiscal year 2014 and federal fiscal year 2015.

The federal fiscal year starts Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30.

Exchange plan users received a total of $30 billion in PPACA advance premium tax credit (APTC) subsidies and cost-sharing reduction subsidies during the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2015, according to the IRS Data Book for fiscal year 2015.

The exchange plan system and the exchange plan subsidy came to life Jan. 1, 2014.

The first exchange plan users received $13 billion in APTC and cost-sharing reduction subsidies from Jan. 1, 2014, through Sept. 30, 2014, according to the fiscal year 2014 data book.

Average monthly subsidy spending increased to $2.5 billion in fiscal year 2015, from about $1.5 billion during the nine months that the exchange system was in operation in 2014.

Total fiscal year 2015 PPACA exchange subsidy spending amounted to 8.7 percent of the individual income tax refund total. In fiscal year 2014, spending on PPACA exchange subsidies amounted to just 3.6 percent of the fiscal year 2014 individual income tax refund total.

In fiscal year 2015, taxpayers received about $21 billion in child tax credit subsidies and about $60 billion in earned income tax credit subsidies.