Democrats and Republicans from both houses of Congress are urging the president to work with them to rapidly repeal the Affordable Care Act’s excise tax that will affect many middle-class worker health insurance plans.
In a letter to President Obama, Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Dean Heller (R-NV) and Reps. Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Frank Guinta (R-NH) have requested his immediate assistance to eliminate the tax.
“If we do not act to eliminate this harmful tax, it is inevitable that more health plans will become subject to this tax each year,” said the letter’s authors. “And middle class workers will be stuck with higher out-of-pocket costs or lower quality healthcare.”
Scheduled to go into effect in 2018, the 40 percent excise tax would be imposed upon many of the employer-provided insurance plans IAM members have negotiated into their contracts. The tax affects plans with coverage costs exceeding $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families.
The IAM strongly opposes the excise tax and supports its repeal.
“We urge Congress not to miss this opportunity to address a serious problem that will detrimentally affect working families across the country,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger.
TAKE ACTION: Contact your members of Congress and tell them you support the repeal of the Excise Tax by calling 202-224-3121.
