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Evan Bayh(PHOTO)
Steelworkers are turning their efforts from tariffs to health care, as they now focus on helping those retirees who are without health insurance.Members of the United Steel Workers of America had been busy sending e-mails and making phone calls to the Bush administration urging the president to maintain the tariffs he imposed on imported steel 21 months ago.
But when Bush announced Thursday, as expected, that he would immediately end those tariffs, the steelworkers said they would step up efforts to ensure that retirees have health care. They fear lifting the tariffs will be devastating to retirees who are counting on a trust fund to help pay hefty health-care bills.
Later this month, local steelworkers plan to go Christmas caroling for health care outside state senators' offices to show their support for better health-care help.
Thousands of local retirees lost their health-care coverage when LTV, Bethlehem and National fell into bankruptcy. The USWA crafted a provision which would help the retirees pay for health care, but it was dependent upon steel companies making profits.
Union leaders are concerned that companies will make less profit now that the tariffs have been removed and ultimately less money will go into the trust fund for retirees.
There currently is a bill in the finance committee of the U.S. Senate that would offer a tax credit for retirees and displaced steelworkers who have not had health insurance in the past three months.
A similar bill was passed last year, but laid-off workers and retirees who didn't have health insurance in the previous three months wouldn't qualify for the program.
U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, has submitted a bill that would ease the three-month health coverage requirement so workers and retirees are not denied the tax credit. It would also lower the age at which retirees are eligible for the tax credit from 55 to 50.
The bill, co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-Merrillville, would help retirees pay up to 65 percent of their health-care costs, and would help retirees and laid-off workers who don't currently have health care or haven't had it for three months.
'My bill will expand access to the current health-care tax credit, reaching out directly to the dislocated or retired steelworkers who have lost their much-needed company health benefits,'' Bayh said in a statement.
'At a time when the administration has broken its promise by repealing the steel tariffs, concerns such as maintaining access to quality health care are more important than ever.'
Stephen Skvara, an LTV retiree with disabilities, pays close to $1,000 a month for health insurance and prescription drugs and takes 10 different prescription drugs each month.
He and his family were in a car crash in Florida in 1997 and he had multiple injuries, including a shattered right knee and fractured hip. He's also been diagnosed with diabetes.
Skvara, 56, who relies on a reduced pension from LTV, said managing to pay health costs each month are tough.
'I've got to hand it to steel mills and unions who worked together to make a leaner meaner steel industry, and now the rug is being pulled under,'' he said.
Staggering health care costs are also an issue for Davetta 'Margie' Haywood, of Gary.
The 49-year-old Miller resident is three weeks shy of her 50th birthday. She qualifies for the current tax credit that was passed last year, but has to make a decision soon to enroll in the program. If she does, she'll pay about $200 of her $1,000 monthly unemployment check on health insurance costs.
Right now, she doesn't have any health insurance. She lost it at the end of November. If she goes three months without health insurance, under the current law, she wouldn't be eligible for the tax credit.
'I'm running scared, because the only income I have is unemployment,'' she said. 'It's really horrifying and it's scary.'
The Bethlehem retiree is fighting high blood pressure and sinus problems.
Reporter Lisa Shidler can be reached at 648-3076 or by e-mail at lshidler@post-trib.com.
