How much would "400 percent" below the poverty level be?

It is below 400 percent, not 400 percent below. That is a huge, huge difference. In this case it refers to, apparently 21000×4, ergo 84000.

It is a strange figure. It doesn’t compute.

@ragingloli You’re absolutely right, Raggy! Thank you. So….what is it saying? An individual with 2 kids making less than $84,000 is eligible for the credits?

It means If your modified adjusted income (whatever that is) is less then four times the poverty level, you are eligable. You have moved the ‘below’.

@stump So…the majority of American’s will qualify for the credit?
And why do they call it “400 times” instead of “4 times”? That above was cut and pasted from the bill.

@Val123 – they call it “400 percent”, not 400 times.

400/100 = 4 :)

edit – my mistake. you meant “400 percent” and why they didn’t just make it clearer and use “4 times”. woops!

The official poverty level varies by region and family size. It might be 15K for a family of 4 in Louisiana and it might be 25K in New York City.

Obviously, 400% of poverty would just be multiplying those figures by 4. So, in this made up example, in Louisiana, it would be 60k for a family of 4 and in NYC it would be 100K.

This would entitle you to a tax credit, which would reduce the hit on your pocket book for purchasing your own insurance.

this poverty level thing still confuses me, I’m so glad my state has it clearly drawn out. To get government aid, it’s usually 185% or 200%

@daloon thank you. Well, I guess most everyone will get some kind of credit!
@casheroo When I was poor, really poor, the poverty level here was $13,000. I was so, so poor that my kids qualified for state medical for about four years. Then, one day after I’d filed my income tax, I got notice from the state that said that based on my income from the previous year I now made $12.00 a month ($144 a year) over the poverty level and no longer qualified for that assistance. In other words, since I made $13,144 the previous year my kids got cut off. True story. It was devastating.

Approximately 6 feet under.

400% is just a different representation for the fraction 400/100 or simply the number 4. In your context it does sound odd. 70% means 0.7

@mattbrowne It’s not my context! It’s the government’s!

@Val123 – I guess the government is out of context ;-)

Percentages can be confusing. An 400% increase of X is actually X + 4*X = 5*X

I think it’s best to use percentages between 0 and 100%, not above. Especially when combined with a “below” statement.

But…@mattbrowne, if they did that you could actually understand it, and that would defeat their purpose!