Delphi health subsidy rises

By Karl Henkel

khenkel@vindy.com

WARREN

President Barack Obama will sign into law today a bill that will have an impact on local Delphi retirees.

The Health Care Tax Credit subsidy available to Delphi workers through their Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association will increase from 65 percent to 72.5 percent as part of HR 2832, which also deals with free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama and Trade Adjustment Assistance.

The subsidy covers the percentage of health-care insurance costs.

In 2009, the Obama administration, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, temporarily raised the subsidy to 80 percent.

That hike expired at the end of 2010 but was extended six weeks before it expired for good in February.

The percentage change will be retroactive to Feb. 12.

It also will reinstate the qualifying-family-member provision, which allows qualifying family members such as spouses and children to receive the same tax subsidy.

The subsidy is for those 55 and older but not yet 65, when they would qualify for Medicare.

If a Delphi retiree turned 65 but had a younger spouse, his or her spouse no longer would qualify for the tax subsidy.

“It’s tough when you’re operating on such a tight budget and you had no opportunity to plan for this,” said Bruce Gump, a Warren native, Delphi retiree and vice chairman of the board of directors of the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association.

Gump said there are about 1,500 salaried and 11,500 hourly Delphi retirees still living in the Mahoning Valley area.

The bill also will establish an auto VEBA for other auto-supplier retirees from companies such as Collins & Aikman, and Hayes Lemmerz International.