Delegates Andy Labeck and Christopher Donahue of Local 5, Zone 5 talk to a legislative staffer about the need to repeal the Cadillac tax, during the 2019 LEAP Conference in Washington, D.C.
IN AN OVERWHELMING 419-6 vote, House Republicans joined Democrats to repeal the “Cadillac tax”—a proposed tax on high-cost employer health insurance. If it is not repealed, The Health Care Excise Tax is set to go into effect in 2022 and would levy a 40-percent tax on the cost of employer-based health insurance that exceeds a certain level.
“Essentially, employers who are generous with their health benefits would be taxed for their generosity,” explains Boilermakers Director of Government Affairs Cecile Conroy. “The Congressional Budget Office predicts that many employers would drop coverage rather than face the health care tax—which means workers would either go uninsured or have to find another means of health insurance.”
The Senate has yet to bring its similar repeal legislation up for a vote.
“We need the Senate to bring this to a vote and finally repeal it. The Cadillac Tax would affect mostly middle-class families, and employers who decide to keep health benefits for worker may try to avoid the tax by increasing out-of-pocket costs to workers,” Conroy said.
“Additionally, for Boilermakers in our national Taft-Hartley health and welfare plan, the participating employers would not individually pay the excise tax, the Plan itself would pay the tax. We find this to be patently unfair as not only would the Plan be forced to divert funds that should be solely used for the benefit of contributing Boilermakers and their families, this would represent a tax on our members’ collectively bargained wages that they agreed to be deferred to their health care coverage.” For more information about yesterday’s House vote in favor of repealing, read:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/house-democrats-join-republicans...
