Rockefeller, Brown push healthcare tax credit

Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) pressed Congress on Tuesday to renew an expiring tax credit that helps unemployed people buy health insurance.

The cited a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that said the tax credit is often more generous than Medicaid coverage or subsidized private coverage — the options President Obama's healthcare law would make available to people who now receive the credit, if it is allowed to expire.

The Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) pays 72.5 percent of the cost of health insurance for people who lost their jobs due to outsourcing. The credit was extended in a package of 2011 trade agreements, but is set to expire at the end of this year.

“This is about standing up for hardworking Americans who lost their jobs due to no fault of their own,” Brown said in a statement. “The HCTC ensures that the loss of a job doesn’t mean the loss of all health coverage for workers who have lost their jobs due to unfair foreign trade."

According to the recent GAO report, about 70 percent of people who now receive the HCTC would receive less generous coverage if the credit expires. They would either be ineligible for Medicaid or subsidized private coverage, or their subsidy for private insurance wouldn't cover as much of their costs as the HCTC.

About 23 percent will be eligible for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that are more generous than the HCTC, GAO found.

“The HCTC is so important because it helps workers who lose their jobs due to outsourcing access affordable health coverage for themselves and their families," Rockefeller said in a statement.

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