Report: 1.9M Californians could qualify for health care tax credit

A report from the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 1.9 million Californians could qualify for tax subsidies under the new federal health care law.

The report released Tuesday estimates that 17.2 million people nationwide who do not have insurance or buy insurance on their own could be eligible.

The Affordable Care Act allows people who do not have access to employer-based health insurance to buy it in marketplaces. It also offers tax credits for people whose incomes are between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

The number of people in California who qualify for subsidies is second only to Texas, where Kaiser says more than 2 million could qualify.

Tax credits are not available to people who are in the country illegally or are incarcerated.