Maintaining Health Coverage While Working

One common misperception is that if you go back to work or raise your income in some other way, you’ll lose access to health care coverage. There are several ways to go back to work, raise your income, and still have health care coverage.

Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage

Many employers offer private health coverage plans to their employees. This may be an option for you. Ask your company’s human resources office for details. To learn more, read DB101's article on Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage.

If You Get SSI and Get a Job

If you’ve been on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and AHCCCS and you work your way off SSI, you may become eligible for SSI's 1619(b) rule.

Rule 1619(b) means that if your monthly SSI cash benefits ends because your wages are too high, you can still get your Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) health coverage as long as you don’t earn more than $53,159 per year.

In order to get AHCCCS coverage through 1619(b), your resources must also stay below SSI’s resource limit, which is $2,000 for a person or $3,000 for a couple.

AHCCCS Freedom to Work

If you don’t qualify for 1619(b), AHCCCS Freedom to Work allows you to earn a lot more money while keeping access to AHCCCS coverage.

To qualify for AHCCCS Freedom to Work, you must meet all of the following eligibility criteria:

• Be age 16 – 65
• Be an Arizona resident
• Be a United States citizen or a qualified immigrant
• Be working and paying taxes
• Have a Social Security number or apply for one
  • To apply for a Social Security number, visit the U.S. Social Security Administration
  • Make a copy of the form submitted as confirmation that you have applied for a Social Security number
• Apply for potential income that may be available, such as unemployment, pension, and Social Security Disability benefits
• Get Social Security disability benefits or be considered blind or disabled by the Disability Determination Services Administration (DDSA)
• Not be eligible for any other AHCCCS program
• Have $6,360 in monthly income or less per month. Whether your income is low enough will depend on your situation and what types of income you have.

People in the program pay a monthly premium for their coverage. The premium is based on their income. The maximum monthly premium is $35. To see if you might qualify for AHCCCS Freedom to Work and what your estimated premium would be, use the DB101 AHCCCS Freedom to Work Estimator .

To learn more about Freedom to Work, call 1-855-432-7587 or 1-602-417-5010. You can also read DB101’s AHCCCS Freedom to Work article.

Individual Coverage Through HealthCare.gov

If your income is too high to qualify for AHCCCS, you should be able to buy individual health coverage through HealthCare.gov and the government may help you pay for your plan through tax subsidies. If your family's income is at or below 250% of FPG, the government will also help you get a plan that has lower copayments and other expenses. Note: There is no income limit for getting subsidies that help pay individual coverage premiums. (Before 2021, the limit was 400% of FPG.) To get subsidies, you still must meet other eligibility rules and the premium amount you pay depends on your income and your plan.

To learn more, read DB101's article on Buying Health Coverage on HealthCare.gov.