Verizon will be hit with $970 million healthcare charge

Verizon revealed that the Obama administration's new healthcare reform measure will force it to take a big charge during Q1 2010--a $970 million non-cash tax charge in Q1 2010 to be exact.

This news follows RBOC brother AT&T's announcement last week that it would take a $1 billion charge due to the healthcare reforms. Just like AT&T, Verizon reported that the non-cash charge is the result of the government's discontinuation of an income tax deduction for retired employees' prescription drug coverage.

In 2011, AT&T, Verizon and other large corporations such as Caterpillar said that the money they receive from the government for retired employees' Medicare Part D drug coverage will be taxable next year.

For more:
- Reuters has this article
- xchange has this article

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