IRS helping jobless with health care costs

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By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer 12:12 AM Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Since Paul Burkhart of Sidney lost his job at an automotive parts supplier a year ago, help for his health care expenses has come from an unlikely source in the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS has been paying 80 percent of Burkhart’s $360 monthly premium through its Health Coverage Tax Credit program. HCTC in 2009 paid more than $100 million in health care premiums nationwide.

“I was surprised,” said Burkhart, 44, who’s studying mechanical engineering technologies. He has a pre-existing condition, while his wife, who’s disabled, is on Medicare. “I couldn’t have afforded it otherwise.”

The IRS is spreading word of the HCTC program, recently expanded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It’s working especially hard to do so in economically hard-hit Dayton and Flint, Mich.

The Dayton-Springfield region had 11,300 people potentially eligible for HCTC at some point in 2009 but only 780 enrolled.

“That tells us we have an awareness problem, and we want to make sure people who have the option of enrolling know about it,” said Crystal Philcox, IRS HCTC program manager.

Ohio ranks second nationwide in the number of people potentially eligible for HCTC; 30 percent of those eligible Buckeyes are in the Dayton-Springfield region.

The region’s numbers are high because of its distressed labor market, loss of jobs to other countries, and downsizing at Delphi in particular, the IRS said.

Those eligible for HCTC include:

• Laid-off workers certified by the Department of Labor as eligible for the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program.

• Spouses meeting certain HCTC requirements and enrolled in qualified health plans.

• Certain beneficiaries of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. who are 55 to 65 years old.

For more information, call (866) 628-4282.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or  bsutherly@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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