Early implementation of the health coverage tax credit in Maryland, Michigan, and North Carolina: a case study summary

Early implementation of the health coverage tax credit in Maryland, Michigan, and North Carolina: a case study summary

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Contributor(s):
Dorn, Stan
Alteras, Tanya.
Meyer, Jack A.
Commonwealth Fund.
Publication:
[New York, N.Y.] : Commonwealth Fund, [2005]
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Financing, Government -- legislation & jurisprudence
Income Tax -- legislation & jurisprudence
Insurance, Health -- economics
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
Health Coverage Tax Credits (HCTCs), which pay 65 percent of beneficiaries' health insurance premiums, constitute an ambitious experiment in using the federal income tax system to subsidize health coverage for the uninsured. The HCTC program has made an excellent start, successfully developing program infrastructure and preventing the kind of marketing fraud that marred a previous tax credit program. However, the new program is experiencing low takeup rates; there have been delays and confusion surrounding enrollment into the advance-payment option; and there is some dissatisfaction with coverage offered by participating health plans. To gather more evidence about HCTCs' effectiveness and assess their prospects as a model for broader reforms, researchers visited Maryland, Michigan, and North Carolina, which used varied approaches to HCTC implementation. The authors present key findings and propose reforms to improve HCTCs' ability to help its current target population and aid policymakers in designing future health insurance tax credits.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
Illustrations:
Illustrations
NLM Unique ID:
101255054 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101255054