Anderson, IN (May 5, 2015) – Congresswoman Susan Brooks (R-IN) joined local small business owners today in Anderson to discuss how the health insurance tax, or HIT, is impacting local businesses and employees. The event was co-hosted by Pete Bitar, the owner of several small high-tech businesses and founder of the Anderson Innovation Center, and the Stop the HIT Coalition, a broad based group representing the nation’s small business owners, their employees and the self-employed.
“Today’s discussion with local small business owners reinforced the need to repeal the health insurance tax, which has unfairly raised insurance costs on Hoosier employers who are working hard to provide health insurance for their employees,” said Congresswoman Brooks.
The HIT is an often-overlooked tax in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that significantly drives up health insurance costs for millions of small businesses. The tax amounts to $159 billion in new costs over the next decade, which is almost entirely passed on to small businesses and the self-employed who purchase coverage in the fully insured marketplace. The tax raises the cost of health insurance premiums for families by approximately $500 a year, according to an analysis by former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
“The implementation of the health insurance tax has caused increases adding up to 30% in one year in insurance premiums and deductibles for my employees and for my business, making it even harder to do business in today’s economy. Additionally, the amount of paperwork and administrative burden to healthcare staffs has reduced the quality of healthcare for the same dollars spent,” said Pete Bitar, CEO of Anderson Innovation Center/XADS.
Indiana is home to more than 493,100 small businesses, which employ more than 1.1 million workers. According to research by the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation, the HIT will jeopardize between 152,000 to 286,000 private-sector jobs across the U.S. by 2023, and reduce real GDP by as much as $20 billion to $33 billion over the same period.
Congresswoman Brooks is a cosponsor of H.R. 928, a bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would repeal the HIT and permanently relieve small businesses of this burdensome tax.