Small business employees & families could save nearly $480 by suspending tax in 2020
Washington, D.C. – Starting early next year, small business owners and their employees across the country will receive notifications of potential premium increases for their 2020 health insurance coverage. These premiums will reflect the return of the health insurance tax (HIT), a sales tax on coverage that will add more than $16 billion to the cost of insurance for middle-class families in 2020.
To protect employees from a spike in their premiums, the Stop The HIT Coalition is launching a nationwide campaign to mobilize small businesses and their employees in support of continued suspension of the tax through 2020. The targeted six-figure grassroots and advertising campaign, beginning ahead of the upcoming lame duck session, urges policymakers to take immediate action to delay or suspend the tax before the end of this year. Policymakers will hear directly from small businesses across the country who have been impacted by the tax and the consequences to their employees and long-term growth.
Stop The HIT Coalition represents the nation’s small business owners, their employees and the self-employed who are actively working to provide relief from the health insurance tax. Suspension of the health insurance tax would eliminate one of the persistent cost drivers in the health insurance market. According to a recent analysis by actuarial firm Oliver Wyman, suspending the tax would provide immediate cost-savings of nearly $480 on average for families employed by a small business in 2020. Seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage would also benefit from a HIT suspension by saving more than $240 on average on their premiums.
Coalition members and small business owners are encouraged by past Congressional efforts to delay the tax for 2017 – part of a legislative package which was signed by President Obama – and for 2019, signed by President Trump. Bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, including H.R.5963, and in the U.S. Senate, S.3063, would provide critical cost savings to the 142 million Americans forced to pay higher insurance premiums as a result of the 2020 HIT.
For more information on the impact of the health insurance tax on premiums, click here.