Question: When state health insurance exchanges become effective in 2014, low-income individuals will qualify for premium credits and/or subsidies, where the amount of credit or subsidy will be determined individually for each person and depend solely on his or her income. Consider the following example: to obtain health insurance coverage effective throughout the year 2015, an individual would be shopping for it in the year 2014, which means he or she will be providing their tax returns for the year 2013 as an evidence of income level.
Do you see any potential problems arising from such a significant time lag between the date of income evidence and the dates of effective coverage? Should the most recent tax returns be the only acceptable proof of income, to qualify for premiums credits?