Ohio senators push again to extend health insurance tax credit for Delphi retirees [Dayton Daily News, Ohio]

Dec. 17—Ohio's senators have introduced a bill that would again extend a health insurance tax credit that has made insurance more affordable for Delphi salaried retirees, among others.

Sens Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown introduced legislation that will extend for four years the Health Coverage Tax Credit for retirees who lost their health care coverage — in addition to their pensions and other benefits — when their employers either entered into bankruptcy or laid off workers due to foreign trade, the senators jointly announced Thursday.

The credit is set to expire on Jan. 1, 2022. It helps to cut the cost of health insurance coverage for those who are either receiving Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits or are between the ages of 55 to 64, whose pensions were terminated and taken over by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federally backed pension insurer of last resort.

The credit is helpful to as many as 5,000 Delphi salaried retirees in Dayton, the Mahoning Valley, and Sandusky, the senators said.

"Thousands of retirees in Ohio and their families depend on the Health Coverage Tax Credit, and this bipartisan legislation will ensure it will be available for them," Portman, a Republican, said in a release.

"The Health Coverage Tax Credit is a lifeline for thousands of Ohioans, many of whom are living on fixed incomes after losing their pensions and healthcare. This critical legislation will help ensure these retirees and workers get the relief they need in order to afford healthcare," said Brown, a Democrat.

The credit has "unquestionably been a life saver" for Delphi salaried retirees, said Bruce Gump, chairman of the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association.

"Because we lost all our health care and life insurance during the auto bailout, many of our members were forced to either go without health care insurance or pay a large majority — or in some cases even more than — their reduced pensions," Gump said.

More than 20,000 Delphi salaried retirees, including some 2,000 in the Dayton area, lost the full value of their retirement benefits when the PBGC terminated the pensions for salaried employees of then-bankrupt Delphi in 2009. Some lost as much as 70 percent of their benefits.

Portman and Brown worked together to extend the credit in 2011, 2015, and 2019.

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