Lawmakers push for extension of Health Coverage Tax Credit

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) led a bipartisan push on Monday for an extension of the Health Coverage Tax Credit.

The HCTC made health insurance more affordable by paying a portion of qualified health insurance premiums from 2002 to 2013. Legislation authorizing the HCTC, however, expired in 2013.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) were among those who joined Portman in a letter to leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee calling for an extension of the HCTC.

“Thousands of families rely on the HCTC, which helps some struggling American families pay their health bills,” the lawmakers said. “These families include thousands of Delphi retirees whose pensions were terminated during the GM bankruptcy and subsequently turned over to the Pension Benefit Corporation….”

Benefits were restored for some Delphi employees, but approximately 20,000 salaried retirees lost up to 70 percent of their pensions. Without the HCTC, the legislators said, up to 50 percent of salaried employee pensions would go to healthcare premiums.

“Given the importance of the HCTC to these American families who have already lost so much, we urge that an extension of this valuable program be included in any bill reported out of your respective committees,” the lawmakers said.

Portman and Brown, both members of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced an amendment in December that would extend the HCTC for two years.