07/25/2019

Senate Won’t Act on Cadillac Tax Before Recess

The CBO estimates its repeal would add $197 billion to the deficit over 10 years

The Senate has started the process for bringing directly to the floor the House bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) “Cadillac tax” but the vote won’t happen until after the August recess, according to POLITICO sources. Last week, the House easily passed legislation to repeal the tax on high-cost employer-provided health insurance that was supposed to help pay for the ACA. The Cadillac tax is deeply unpopular with both Republicans and Democrats despite having never taken effect.

Delayed repeatedly by Congress, the tax would impose a 40 percent excise tax beginning in 2022 on employer-provided health plans that exceed $11,200 for an individual and $30,100 for a family. The goal of the tax initially was to keep health-care costs down and help pay for the ACA, but even congressional Democrats now say that the tax would primarily hurt working families that have health coverage through their jobs.

Repealing the tax will add to the growing national deficit. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated repeal of the tax would add $197 billion to the deficit over 10 years.

This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.