I haven't spent any time researching ACA options, but how is your monthly cashflow? Can you increase 401k contributions to reduce your taxable income and thus increase your subsidy?
Our income would have to decrease greatly. I believe every household that makes over 30,000 is charged higher. If under 30,000 you get the low rates. Our taxable income would have to go way down, and I don't think we could possibly invest enough to bring it down that much...
That is not correct. You are eligible for subsidies until your income (MAGI) exceeds 400% of the federal poverty guidelines, which for two people this year is $62,920.
http://familiesusa.org/product/federal-poverty-guidelinesSo the $30,000 number is totally irrelevant. The subsidies are higher if your income is lower, but there is no magic number where suddenly insurance is cheap or suddenly it's expensive--the subsidies decrease *gradually* and *regularly* as your income increases.
But for this year you have waited too long. To make sure that people don't go without insurance and then suddenly try to buy it when they get sick, they had to impose a deadline and that deadline was March 31. (If you started applying before 3/31 but didn't finish--in other word if you created an account at your state's Obamacare exchange website but didn't finish the process--then you can have an extension until April 15; just log in to your account and finish the process.)
Still, hopefully this advice will help you when the next open enrollment period starts in December.