1:48 pm Tue August 24, 2004  Eligible Kentuckians Not Getting
Tax Credit  Louisville, KY – Kentucky is among 15 states where
some eligible people can't get a new federal tax credit that
pays a portion of their health insurance premiums. The credit
took effect a year ago, but Kentucky doesn't have a health
insurer that sells a qualifying plan. The health coverage tax
credit is meant to help people who lost their jobs because of
foreign competition or whose pension benefits were picked up by
the government after a company failure. It's part of a trade act
President Bush signed into law in 2002. An estimated 4,400
people in Kentucky are eligible. Insurers have worried that
people seeking credit might have higher medical costs than the
premiums they can charge. To address that concern, the Kentucky
general assembly passed a measure last spring lifting the 35%
cap for people eligible for the credit