Washington � Behind heavy wooden doors in the bowels of the Capitol, four members of Congress joined with a handful of small business owners on Wednesday to fight against a piece of the Affordable Care Act they believe will hurt small businesses.
“In just six months, health insurance companies will be whacked with a tax that will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, an aggressive opponent of the law known as Obamacare and one of the lead co-sponsors of a bill to repeal the tax.
The health insurance tax, or HIT, is really a fee the federal government will soon charge health insurance companies for every plan they sell to individuals and businesses that are not self-insured. Since most large companies are self-insured, opponents say insurance companies will pass along the costs to small businesses.
Revenue from the fee will help pay for the expansion of healthcare coverage under ACA, through Medicaid and insurance subsidies. The concern for some members of Congress, including Hatch and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is that this tax could stifle economic growth and result in higher insurance premiums.
“Over the next 10 years this tax will impose $102 billion at least on businesses and their employees,” said Hatch, “diverting money that could be used to pay higher wages, new hires, better benefits and investments back into their businesses.”
Hatch and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., are sponsoring a bill to repeal the insurance fee, which has the backing of 21 other Republicans.
Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., and Matheson are leading the effort in the House, which is backed by Utah’s three Republican House members and has a total of 225 co-sponsors, enough for it to pass the House.
The four main sponsors addressed the media at the event staged by the Stop the HIT coalition, which represents 35 employer groups across a broad range of industries, to highlight the six-month countdown to the provision’s introduction.
The event was held on the same day as the 39th vote in the House to dismantle part of Obamacare. The Democratic-controlled Senate and President Barack Obama have rebuffed every effort to chip away at Obamacare thus far, and are likely do the same this time around.
Matheson is one of just seven Democrats to support repeal of the insurance fee.