The Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) is a program that can help pay for nearly two-thirds of eligible individuals’ health plan premiums. State agencies play critical roles in the success of the HCTC program. In each state, the governor’s office, the state workforce agency (SWA), the state health agency (SHA) and the department of insurance (DOI) are all key partners in the program.

The goals guiding all of these groups are to:

• Provide people who are eligible for the credit with convenient access to HCTC program benefits and services.
  
• Create state partnerships to support HCTC long-term goals.
  
• Develop solutions that take advantage of the capabilities and strengths of existing government/private sector partnerships.
  

We have pulled together information on what your various state agencies need to do to help assure that these goals are met.

The following General Information provides an overview of the HCTC program. This information can also be found in the HCTC State Toolkit that was distributed to the Governors' Offices, State Workforce Agencies and Departments of Insurance in July 2003.

Of particular importance is the need for your state to work with health plan administrators to Qualify Health Plans for the program.

We have gathered Education and Training information so that you can be a resource to those people who may be eligible for the credit.

We have suggestions on how to Reach Out to HCTC candidates who may be eligible to help those who qualify for the program learn about it and get registered.

We have included information on the steps you can take to prepare and to Transmit the File of potentially eligible individuals to the HCTC program.

We have provided a reminder that you may elect to apply for Federal Funding to help cover the costs of setting up and operating your HCTC activities.

The Operational Updates share new information and lessons learned from the ongoing operation of the HCTC program.

See our list of Frequently Asked Questions by representatives of state agencies.

General Resources

The following General Information provides an overview of the HCTC program. This information can also be found in the HCTC State Toolkit that was distributed to the Governors' Offices, State Workforce Agencies and Departments of Insurance in July 2003.

State Readiness Checklist (HTML version), State Readiness Checklist (PDF version) - a list of activities with a timetable for their completion.

The HCTC Program Kit (PDF) is mailed to candidates that are potentially eligible for the Health Coverage Tax Credit. This online version of the document contains eligibility and registration information, but does not include the HCTC Registration Form.

The Governor’s Letter (PDF) was distributed to all governors in February of 2003 to provide details on the HCTC program. The letter was amended on August 8, 2003 with current contact information.

Go to the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) Overview page.