Republicans in the House Ways and Means Committee have introduced several bills to delay taxes in the Affordable Care Act, including one loathed by payers, the health insurance tax.
After being suspended, the HIT tax on all private health insurance plans, is scheduled to go into effect in 2018. Insurers have said it adds about 3 percent to price of premiums.
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America's Health Insurance Plans calls it a $100-plus billion sales tax on health insurance that increases the cost of health coverage.
HR 4620 introduced by Representative Kristi Noem of South Dakota would again delay the health insurance tax through 2019 as long as insurers offer premium rebates to plan holders who have paid for the tax through higher premiums on their 2018 plans.
The ACA's Cadillac tax, scheduled to take effect in 2020, would be delayed by a year under HR 4616. The Cadillac tax is a 40 percent excise tax on employer plans exceeding $10,200 in annual premiums for individuals and $27,500 for families.
Representatives Devin Nunes of California and Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, cosponsors of the Cadillac tax relief bill, also propose ending the employer mandate in the ACA to offer insurance coverage. This bill would be retroactive for three years and give a year's prospective relief.
Other bills would get rid of the medical device tax for five years, for two years delay the tax on over-the-counter medications and again allow for reimbursement under consumer-directed accounts.
Since many of these tax delays would end this year, legislators needed to act if they were to keep the ACA taxes from being levied in 2018. Bills introduced in the House Ways and Means Committee could be attached to larger bills moving through Congress, according to The Hill.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady of Texas said, "Obamacare's failures are continuing to hurt families across the country – and allowing burdensome healthcare taxes to continue or go back into effect would make these problems even more severe. As we continue working toward a patient-centered healthcare system, Ways and Means Republicans are taking action to provide targeted relief from taxes that stand in the way of affordable health care, innovative treatments, access to medications, more jobs, and bigger paychecks for hard-working Americans."
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com