Senator Martin Heinrich is signing onto legislation that would keep the so-called “Cadillac tax” in the garage before it is even implemented.
U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich at the announcement of the approval of the SunZia transmission line in January, 2015. Photo via Martin Heinrich’s office
Heinrich will cosponsor legislation by U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., to repeal the tax that is part of the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare overhaul law that went into effect in 2013. The tax is one portion of the law that has not yet went into effect and isn’t scheduled to do so until 2018.
Heller’s effort is a companion piece of legislation to a bill in the House by U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., which seeks to do the same thing.
“Doing away with this onerous tax on employees’ health coverage before it goes into effect will protect important benefits for workers and ensure businesses and families
get a fair deal,” Heinrich told New Mexico Political Report in a statement Thursday morning shortly before the legislation was unveiled. “I’m proud to join Senator Heller and Congressman Courtney in leading this bipartisan effort to ensure millions of middle-class families who rely on employer-based health care aren’t unfairly penalized because of this tax.”
In 2018, the healthcare overhaul is set to subject health plans which cost more than $10,200 annually for individuals or $27,500 for families to a 40 percent excise tax. The tax would be paid by insurers. It has been deemed the “Cadillac tax” by opponents, referring to the high-cost of the plans.
The cost would only include health insurance and not include dental or vision insurance costs.
Earlier this year, Politico examined how the Cadillac tax could kill flexible spending accounts.
It isn’t the only tax that’s part of the healthcare law that is controversial. The medical device tax has also prompted attempts to repeal over the years—and even became a part of the 2012 Senate campaign, which Heinrich won.
Opponents of the medical device tax—Heinrich has said in the past he opposes the tax—say it has cost tens of thousands of jobs. A Washington Post fact-checker found this claim dubious.
