While 2018 might still seem far off in the future, the realities of the impact of the 40-percent excise tax in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are already being felt today. The excise tax, or Cadillac tax as it is more commonly known, is set to impact 48 percent of employers in 2018 and could potentially reach 82 percent by 2023, according to a September 2014 Towers Watson study.

The tax was originally characterized as impacting those "gold-plated" insurance plans that offered the richest benefits — a select group of high-end plans. Today we see that the impact of the tax is far more reaching and will undermine the ability for employers to even offer insurance and for individuals to save for their own health care expenses.

As the law stands, contributions from employers and employees to benefits accounts such as health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are included in the threshold limit. At the same time, high-deductible health plans continue to grow in popularity as a cost-effective option that are expected to remain well under the Cadillac tax limits for the near future.