A hefty tax on the most generous employer-provided health plans may be eliminated by Congress.
The so-called “Cadillac tax”—a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that calls for a 40% tax on employer health plans that cost more than $11,200 per year for an individual or $30,150 for a family—was supposed to take effect in 2018, but Congress has twice delayed it.
Labor unions and patient advocacy groups have opposed the tax because of the assumption that employers would cut health care benefits in order to avoid it, or shift costs to employees. Others, including many economists, said the tax was necessary to help pay for the cost of the ACA and to discourage unnecessary care.
Experts quoted in an August 14, 2019 NPR article said that the push to get rid of the tax stems from public concern about rising health care costs for individuals—high premiums and out-of-pocket costs—which have overshadowed concern about how much the nation is spending on health care.
Said Robert Blendon, Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health and Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, “Voters are saying, ‘We want you to lower our health costs.’”
Read the NPR article: ‘Cadillac Tax’ On Generous Health Plans May Be Headed For Repeal