Two House members and the state’s two senators are urging a tax credit extension for Delphi salaried retirees

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan and Mike Turner as well as the state’s two U.S. senators sent letters to leadership of their respective chambers urging a two-year extension of the Health Coverage Tax Credit to specifically help Delphi salaried retirees struggling to maintain affordable health care.

The four worked earlier this year to get amendments into HCTC bills in the House and Senate to help Delphi salaried retirees with some of their health care costs. The retirees’ pensions as well as health and life insurance were terminated during the federal government’s 2009 rescue of General Motors. The retirees are receiving 30 to 70 percent of their pensions through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

There are 20,000 retirees, including 1,500 in the Mahoning Valley.

The amendments provided tax credits for retirees who lost their health care coverage when the companies for which they worked entered bankruptcy or moved operations overseas. The HCTC expires Jan. 1.

Ryan, of Howland, D-13th, and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, of Cleveland, are Democrats. Turner, of the Dayton area, and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, of the Cincinnati area, are Republicans.

In similar letters, dated Thursday, the four wrote that without the extension, Delphi “salaried retirees face financial hardship with up to 50 percent of their remaining pension going to fund their health care premiums.”