Can Tax Credits Be a Linchpin for Health Reform? Lessons from the Factory Floor

April 1, 2008
Noon-1:30 p.m.

In a policy field notoriously beset by ideological and partisan division, one of the few ideas enjoying support across the philosophical spectrum is the use of federal income tax credits to cover the uninsured. The only credit of this sort now available—the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC), serving workers displaced by international trade—aids no more than 15 percent of eligible households. Moreover, administrative costs may consume as much as a third of federal expenditures on the HCTC. Our expert panel considered what is behind the HCTC's problems and successes; whether Congress should abandon tax credits; and how (if at all) should future tax credits included in health reform be structured to replicate the HCTC’s accomplishments and avoid its problems?

Audio Recording

Panelists:


Stan Dorn, senior research associate, Health Policy Center, Urban Institute; author, “Health Coverage Tax Credits: A Small Program Offering Large Policy Lessons”


Roy Ramthun, president, HSA Consulting Services; former senior health policy advisor to President George W. Bush


Eugene Steuerle, senior fellow, Urban Institute; codirector, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (moderator)


Janet Trautwein, executive vice president and CEO, National Association of Health Underwriters


JoAnn Volk, legislative representative, AFL-CIO.

Handouts:
- Bios
- Health Coverage Tax Credits: A Small Program Offering Large Policy Lessons
- HCTC Fact Sheet (pdf)
- HCTC: Simplified and More Timely Enrollment Process Could Increase Participation (pdf)
- Recommendations for Improving the Health Care Tax Credit Provided Under the Trade Adjustment Act of 2002 (page 23 of the PDF)

Other Resources:
- Take-Up of Health Coverage Tax Credits: Examples of Success in a Program With Low Enrollment
- Health Plan Options Under the Health Coverage Tax Credit Program)
- A Workable Social Insurance Approach to Expanding Health Insurance Coverage

At the Urban Institute.

2100 M Street N.W., 5th Floor, Washington, D.C.
Lunch will be provided at 11:45 a.m. The forum begins promptly at noon.