Thursday, February 05, 2004
Tax credits for the uninsured receiving little attention
[Robert Pear, "Sluggish Start for Offer of Tax Credit for Insurance," The New York Times, 25 January 2004.]
A new program that offers tax credits for buying insurance to individuals who have lost their jobs due to overseas competition is facing very limited enrollment. The credits are seen as a prototype for tax credits for the uninsured generally as well as an alternative to dumping people into Medicaid. High costs of insurance are blamed to some extent, but states could make a greater effort to track down those eligible:
The program, the Health Coverage Tax Credit, was created in 2002 to aid workers who lose jobs because of foreign imports.
Administration officials have hailed the program for displaced workers. In a letter to governors last February, Treasury Secretary John W. Snow and Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, said the tax credit "could help over 500,000 Americans each year." And Mr. Snow described it last summer as "a real innovation in tax policy, a bold step in the direction of affordable health care for all Americans."
But the results to date are modest, in part because displaced workers are still required to spend substantial amounts of money on insurance premiums before they can get the benefits of the tax credit.
At the end of December, the Bush administration said, only 8,374 workers were receiving tax credits for health insurance under the program. The total number of people taking advantage of the program, including dependents, is perhaps 25,000, or 5 percent of those expected to benefit.
[Robert Pear, "Sluggish Start for Offer of Tax Credit for Insurance," The New York Times, 25 January 2004.]
A new program that offers tax credits for buying insurance to individuals who have lost their jobs due to overseas competition is facing very limited enrollment. The credits are seen as a prototype for tax credits for the uninsured generally as well as an alternative to dumping people into Medicaid. High costs of insurance are blamed to some extent, but states could make a greater effort to track down those eligible:
The program, the Health Coverage Tax Credit, was created in 2002 to aid workers who lose jobs because of foreign imports.
Administration officials have hailed the program for displaced workers. In a letter to governors last February, Treasury Secretary John W. Snow and Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, said the tax credit "could help over 500,000 Americans each year." And Mr. Snow described it last summer as "a real innovation in tax policy, a bold step in the direction of affordable health care for all Americans."
But the results to date are modest, in part because displaced workers are still required to spend substantial amounts of money on insurance premiums before they can get the benefits of the tax credit.
At the end of December, the Bush administration said, only 8,374 workers were receiving tax credits for health insurance under the program. The total number of people taking advantage of the program, including dependents, is perhaps 25,000, or 5 percent of those expected to benefit.
Comments:
Post a Comment
