|
The Senate looks to pass the Patient Protection and Affordable
Health Care Act, H.R. 3590, on December
24, 2009,
and then adjourn for the holiday recess.
H.R. 3590 still includes the excise tax, which would inflict
a 40 percent tax on health insurance companies, administrators,
and self-insured employers that offer and administer high-cost health
plans. At this point, amending the bill to scale
back or eliminate the tax is no longer possible given the rules
of debate for the bill. However,
NAPO believes we will
be able to amend or eliminate the excise tax during conference negotiations
between the House and Senate. The
House-passed health care bill, H.R. 3962, does not include an excise
tax. Conference negotiations are expected to begin
at the beginning of January.
NAPO strongly opposes the excise tax and
has fought its inclusion in the bill since the beginning. When it was first proposed by Senator Max Baucus
(D-MT) in the Senate Finance Committee health care overhaul legislation,
NAPO sent a letter to Senate leadership
urging them to look at and recognize the harmful consequences the
excise tax would have on the health care plans of a significant
number of our nation's workers.
Click here
to view NAPO’s letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Currently, the excise tax would be
imposed on plans with annual costs higher than $8,500 for single
coverage and $23,000 for family coverage.
The thresholds would be higher
for retirees
over 55 years of age or individuals engaged in high-risk professions,
including law enforcement, EMS, and fire fighters.
Despite the higher thresholds, comprehensive
plans and plans that cover predominantly public safety officers
would be hit by this tax as it is based on the total cost of the
plan regardless of what it covers or why it costs so much.
NAPO is deeply concerned that public safety
employees will be forced to pay the excise tax in the form of wage
cuts, higher premiums, increased out-of-pocket costs, and lower
benefits.
After months of
work, it has finally become evident to a majority of lawmakers that
the excise tax will adversely affect middle-class Americans far
more than they originally projected.
There is significant support in the Senate and House to remove
the tax from the final legislation. 180 democratic members of the House signed on
a letter
of opposition from Congressman Joe Courtney (D-CT)
to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
NAPO, together with other organizations
representing state and local government employees, continues to
work with lawmakers to remove the excise tax from the final health
care bill. The real
fight against the tax will be in January during conference negotiations.
Please join NAPO’s efforts and let your
congressional representatives and senators know how the excise tax
will affect the health care benefits you have worked hard to earn. Congress needs to recognize that this excise
tax penalizes middle-class, hard working Americans, many of whom
serve their country in public service,
and that is unacceptable. Please
continue to check NAPO’s website, www.napo.org, for updates on this and other issues.
|
