TL;DR: the recently passed American Rescue Plan contains stimulus checks, money for vaccines, schools, small businesses, and much more

Stimulus Checks

The American Rescue Plan includes a third stimulus check to Americans. You will receive a $1,400 direct payment (similar to the last three payments) if you are single and earn less than $75,000, or are married with income less than $150,000.

You will also receive an additional $1,400 payment for each dependent claimed on your tax return. This includes adult dependents over age 17 for the first time! You will receive a benefit as long as they are claimed on your tax return as a dependent. You can read more about tax dependants on this IRS site.

Health Insurance

Nearly 19 million Americans get their health insurance through the health insurance marketplace in their state. A majority of these people receive discounts on their monthly insurance premiums from tax subsidies.

These subsidies are usually limited to those below a certain income limit. However, the American Rescue Plan removes the income cap for receiving these subsidies.

This means you won't pay more than 8.5% of your income for a benchmark plan, even if your income was previously too high for this savings!

Most Americans are eligible to enroll in a health insurance plan from now until August 15th. Looking for coverage options for you and your family? Catch can help you find the right plan, right now.

Unemployment

The Federal Government expanded unemployment benefits to address massive job loss caused by the pandemic by including additional weekly payments to those receiving unemployment assistance.

The American Rescue Plan has extended these additional benefits, with an extra $300 per week until September 6th, 2021. In addition, the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits will be non-taxable for households with income under $150,000.

Child tax credit

For those with children, there will be an increase in the amount of the Child Tax Credit. For children under age 6, the credit is $3,000 per child. For Children under age 6, the credit will be $3,600. The tax credit is available to people earning less than $75,000 if single, or less than $150,000 if married.

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

The bill added an additional $7.25B to fund the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and expanded access to include access for non-profits groups. However, the program was not extended and is set to expire on March 31st. It is expected that this program will be extended in future legislation.

Other Program Funding

This American Rescue Plan included funding for many hard-hit programs critical to bouncing back from the pandemic. Some of the critical funding includes:

• $122B for K-12 schools
• $25B in emergency rental assistance funding for the homeless and victims of domestic abuse
• $25B in Small Business Administration funding for grants to restaurants
• Temporary boost of $35/month for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) recipients
• $7.5B in CDC funding to track, administer and distribute COVID-19 vaccines
• $46B in CDC funding for diagnosing and tracing coronavirus infections
• $2B towards purchasing personal protective equipment and testing supplies
• $4.5B for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program LIHEAP