Hillary Clinton will come out against the so-called Cadillac tax, a major piece of Obamacare, which is meant tocontrol health care costs.
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Clinton has been under pressure to oppose the tax as she vies for union support with her top Democratic rival, Sen. Last week, Sanders and seven other Democratic Senators introduced a plan to repeal the tax.
Clinton’s effort is part of a series of changes she is proposing to “build on” the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature domestic achievement.
Clinton’s campaign said the estimated billion in lost revenue from repeal of the Cadillac Tax would be offset by her reform plans released last week. Under the ACA, companies could get out of paying a fewor all of the tax by replacing expensive and relatively luxurious health-care plans with cheaper alternatives.
The issue of the Cadillac tax re-surfaced late past yearafter the revelation of videos in which MIT health care economist Jonathan Gruber was seen discussing the implementation and passage of Obamacare.
PPACA “has extended quality, affordable health insurance to millions of Americans, begun to rein in the growth of overall health care spending across the country, and provided important new protections to consumers, especially young people and anyone with a pre-existing condition”, Clinton said in a statement about her decision to support Cadillac plan tax repeal.
“Too many Americans are struggling to meet the cost of rising deductibles and (prescription) drug prices”, she said in a statement.
Starting in 2018, employer-based health insurance plans will face a 40 percent tax for costs over $10,200 for an individual and $27,500 for a family, with those caps pegged to inflation in future years.
Union members in particular hate the “Cadillac tax”; the fee assessed those with top-of-the-line coverage that is criticized by Obamacare supporters as encouraging unnecessary treatments.
Supporters of the tax have argued that it could be powerful health care cost control mechanism.
Consultants say employers would try to avoid the tax by requiring workers to pay a bigger share of their medical costs out-of-pocket – essentially raising costs on their employees.
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