Key Congressional Democrats want the Cadillac tax repealed, and they've now introduced a bill to do just that.
The repeal measure was sponsored by Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and seven Democrats, including Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, head of the Senate Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Works campaign.
Because the tax on "rich" health plans would likely effect labor union plans, union supporting Democrats have parted ways with President Obama over the tax, designed to generate revenue to help pay for the overall costs of the reform law.
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The bill's introduction comes at a politically sensitive time, since it will force all presidential candidates — including Sanders presidential candidate rival Hillary Clinton — to declare themselves one way or the other.
The White House has consistently said it will not back away from the tax, thus setting up an intra-party showdown over the issue. Candidate Clinton hasn't made her position on the tax public yet.
This latest attack on the Cadillac tax takes a similar approach to the bill introduced earlier by Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada and New Mexico Democrat Sen. Martin Heinrich. The White House has criticized the repeal efforts because they offer no replacement funding for the estimated $87 billion the tax would generate.
Sanders has said the funds to be raised by the tax could be easily offset by creating a new tax on rich people. He hasn't made clear exactly how that would be structured.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
