Subsidy

The new health reform law will be phased in in pieces over the next four years, but one benefit — for a specific group of consumers —starts June 1. Called the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program, it's a $5-billion federal subsidy to employers to help them pay for healthcare coverage for some retired workers ages 55 to 64 who don't yet qualify for Medicare. "Rising costs have made it hard for employers to provide quality, affordable health insurance for workers and retirees," said Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, in announcing the new provision last week.

Many part-timers are facing a double whammy from President Obama's Affordable Care Act. The law requires large employers offering health insurance to include part-time employees working 30 hours a week or more. But rather than provide healthcare to more workers, a growing number of employers are cutting back employee hours instead. The result: Not only will these workers earn less money, but they'll also miss out on health insurance at work. LIVE CHAT: Join us at 3 p.m. Pacific with your questions and comments Consider the city of Long Beach.

If you've been laid off from a job that also provided health insurance, we want to alert you to a recent extension to the COBRA subsidy, first announced by President Obama in February 2009. Under COBRA (which stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985), employees of companies that offer health insurance and who were not fired for cause are eligible to continue coverage for themselves and any previously covered dependents. But continuing that coverage can be expensive.

GIZA, Egypt - The woman with crates of unsold tomatoes breathed in the boisterous music of slum life: creaking shutters, squawking chickens, blowing laundry, clattering junkmen. But the ingrained rhythms only angered Hamid Ali Mohamed, who sat in an alley beside her rusting scales and a slim pile of 12 coins, the equivalent of less than $2 for a day's work at the vegetable stand she inherited from her late husband. "Hey!" she yelled at a passing woman. "Why'd you buy those tomatoes from someone else?"

Will they or won't they extend the COBRA subsidy? That's the question as the nine-month benefit begins to expire. The subsidy, established by the Obama administration earlier this year for people who lost their jobs, and with it their employer-based health insurance, has helped millions pay for the cost of extending that insurance. COBRA, which stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, has long enabled many people who lose their job to keep their insurance, at 102% of the cost.

Re: "Access to healthcare subsidy may expand," March 31: It's great that California lawmakers have voted to expand the subsidy for health benefits under COBRA to folks who have been laid off by small businesses. But for some, coverage under the law that allows workers to keep their employer-provided health insurance for up to 18 months after they leave their jobs may prove too expensive -- even with government aid. Fortunately, the COBRA subsidy allows for some flexibility. Laid-off workers can switch to a cheaper health plan, if available through their employer, when they sign up for COBRA coverage.

Millions of unemployed Americans face the prospect of a huge increase in health insurance costs, thanks to the looming expiration of a government subsidy. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed in February, launched a temporary government program to subsidize the often crippling cost of buying health insurance through a former employer's plan after a layoff. However, the so-called COBRA subsidy was designed to last no more than nine months for each person who was unemployed.

Re "Residents, Developer Battle Over Housing Plans," Feb. 18: The homeowners in the El Hoyito neighborhood are sadly misinformed about affordable housing -- and about public subsidy. Instead of being breeding grounds for future criminals, nonprofit-produced housing has a long history of reducing both crime and poverty and increasing community involvement -- a contribution to any community. The construction itself produces jobs, and the on-site services fill gaps left by dwindling state and federal resources.

Responding to appeals from an array of construction unions, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved a $67.3-million subsidy for a new downtown hotel across from L.A. Live. The council voted 10 to 1 to provide developers of a 23-story Marriott complex on Olympic Boulevard a tax rebate equal to half of the revenue - from sales taxes, property taxes, parking taxes, business taxes, utility taxes and room taxes - generated by the project over 25 years. That money will flow to the developers, Williams/Dame & Associates and American Life Inc., in the form of a hotel tax rebate, said Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller.

It's after 9 a.m. and Nadine Stoops, 76, is ready to do battle with K mart. When the No. 37 bus that will take her there lumbers to a stop on Euclid Avenue, the Garden Grove widow climbs the three steps, smiles at the driver and helps herself to a seat. In most cities, Stoops would have been nabbed for ignoring the fare box. But in Orange County, at least for the last 12 years, senior citizens ride free except during rush hours when they pay a discount fare of 35 cents.

Some Republicans still cling to the hope that they'll be able to repeal Obamacare someday, but a report released Wednesday by Families USA shows why it may be even harder for them to do so after Jan. 1. The report estimates that nearly 3 million Californians could be eligible for generous insurance subsidies under the 2010 healthcare reform law, starting next year. Anyone with an income between one and four times the federal poverty line -- in other words, between $23,550 and $94,200 for a family of four -- could receive a tax credit that reduces monthly premiums dramatically.

Ahead of a press event Tuesday, T-Mobile quietly updated its website this weekend to announce that it was doing away with service contracts. With the move, T-Mobile becomes the first major U.S. carrier to drop smartphone subsidies. The Seattle company has made it clear that it would stop subsidizing cellphones since last year, but the move won't become official until Tuesday. Instead, users will be able to purchase phones at their full price, pay in installments or bring their own device and simply pay for the plan.

WASHINGTON - The two budget proposals now in Congress present Americans with a choice even starker than the one between the presidential candidates last year. Under the 10-year budget plan released by House Republicans this week, tax rates would fall for high-income Americans and corporations, defense spending would be bolstered, and more than 30 million uninsured people would lose access to government-backed healthcare. Food stamps, student loans and free school lunches for children would be cut. The Senate Democrats' plan, released Wednesday, would increase taxes on the wealthy and some corporations, cut the Pentagon budget and add $100 billion in highway and school construction spending.

A group of California visual effects artists is mounting a long-shot campaign to dismantle foreign film tax credits, contending that they hurt U.S. workers and violate international trade agreements. More than 150 visual effects workers in the last two weeks have donated funds to challenge the legality of foreign film subsidies that have buffeted California's visual effects industry. "We're fighting for the industry we love," said Rachael Campbell, a visual effects artist and campaign donor.

Besides the announcement of an Apple deal, T-Mobile USA CEO John Legere announced an aggressive 2013 plan for the Seattle-based carrier that includes scrapping phone subsidies and going after AT&T's customers. Speaking at an investor conference in Germany for Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent company, Legere said T-Mobile will offer only its so-called Value Plan next year. The plan is intended to offer customers lower rates for their cellular service by disassociating it with the price of a subsidized phone.

To hear business leaders and political candidates talk, proper industrial policy comprises only three elements: a fair tax system, a level playing field and "certainty. " So why is it that all three are about to be thrown out the window as a sop to oil, gas and nuclear interests determined to fillet the wind-power industry? The maneuvering in Washington is over a federal subsidy known as the production tax credit, which is worth 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour to wind-energy producers.

Unocal said Friday that it has dropped plans for a major modification of its oil-shale operations in western Colorado and won't use a controversial $500-million federal subsidy earmarked for the project. Company officials said they decided the changes, designed to capture and recycle excess heat from the current mining and oil-producing complex, would have cost about $352 million--or 35% more than expected. They also said they were not sure the technology would work.

The wind-swept airport on the plains south of this little town is a lot quieter these days. No longer do the small Beech 1900 turboprops of GP Express Airlines roar off toward Denver or Alliance, Neb., twice daily. As of early March, the 6,000 residents here in the arid hills of western Nebraska were erased from the country's aviation map when the company determined that its service made no economic sense, even with large subsidies. Fewer than two people a day, on average, used the service.

SACRAMENTO - On 7,300 isolated acres in eastern Kern County, a plan for dozens of wind turbines 20 stories high to generate enough electricity for tens of thousands of homes may hinge on who is elected president. Millions of dollars have been spent laying the groundwork. Permits are in order, contractors are lined up, government planners are on board. But like many other green energy efforts in California, the Avalon Wind Project awaits the fate of key federal subsidies. For Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, such aid represents government run amok, allowing bureaucrats to pick winners and losers in renewable energy rather than letting the free market sort them out. Romney has not offered many specifics about what he would cut, but his opposition in general to aid for alternative energy production has been a pillar of his campaign.

Driven by the Obama administration's vision of clean power and energy independence, the rush to build large-scale solar plants across the Southwest has created an investors' dream in the desert. Taxpayers have poured tens of billions of dollars into solar projects - some of which will have all their construction and development costs financed by the government by the time they start producing power. Banks, insurers and utility companies have jumped in, taking advantage of complex state and federal tax incentives to reap outsized returns.