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Millions of federal employees and Unions might be exempt from health benefits tax - SumOfAllFears - 10-22-2009 03:57 PM
Millions of federal employees might be exempt from health benefits tax
By: Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
10/21/09 5:43 PM EDT
Article Here
Democrats are looking for ways to exclude a bevy of big groups from their proposal to tax so-called Cadillac health insurance plans. So far the list of groups seeking exclusions include labor unions, firefighters, coal miners and other high risk occupations.
At this point, is there anyone else left to tax who has one of those big insurance policies?
Oh right. Federal employees.
Well, now some members of Congress want to carve out an exclusion for them as well.
Reps. Jerry Connolly and Jim Moran, two Democrats from the federal employee haven of Northern Virginia, sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., expressing concern that the Senate health care proposal, which includes the tax, "may adversely affect health coverage for federal employees and retirees."
Connolly and Moran explain in the letter that the Congressional Research Services has provided them with data indicating that the cost of Federal Employees Health Benefits Plans used by federal employees is close to the threshold ($8,000 per individual and $21,000 per family) that would trigger the proposed 40 percent excise tax.
"Throughout this year, we and members of the Administration have assured the public, including 2 million federal employees, that if individuals or families like their current health coverage, they will not have to change," the letter said. "The current proposal from the Senate Finance Committee could undermine that tenet of health insurance reform."
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Union workers would be exempt from Dem health care tax
By: Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
June 23, 2009
Article Here
The best chance for compromise legislation on health care may be a plan under construction in the Senate Finance Committee that would pay for a public plan in part by taxing some worker health benefits.
But the union workers who helped Democrats win Congress and the White House and whose support will be key in getting a health bill signed into law would not pay the tax.
With cost estimates already as high as $1.6 trillion, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has proposed paying for the bill in part by taxing health care benefits for workers who earn more than $100,000, or $200,000 for married couples, according to those familiar with the discussions.
Baucus is also weighing a tax based on the value of health care benefits that exceed a yet-to-be determined cap. A tax on benefits that exceed the cap by a mere $3,000 could amount to $750 in taxes annually for a worker who earns as little as $34,000, say experts.
But those union members serving under collective bargaining agreements would not be subjected to the tax, according to proposals under discussion.
Union workers enjoy some of the most extensive and costliest health benefits, and union officials complained their members would be unfairly burdened by a health care tax because their contracts cannot be changed quickly enough to avoid it.
Union members also represent one of the biggest and most powerful Democratic constituencies and their support of any health care reform proposal is viewed as essential to getting a bill passed in Congress.
Baucus has proposed the tax threshold on health care benefits be set higher than the cost of policies available to federal employees and he has proposed exempting until 2013 those plans negotiated as part of union contracts.
“It’s a means of making sure that unions are foursquare behind any reform bill that comes out,” said Henry Aaron, a health care policy expert at Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
Critics of the Baucus proposal to exempt unions from a health care benefits tax said the exclusion could be used to lure into unions employees who are anxious to avoid the benefits tax.
Paul Fronstin, a senior research associate with the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute, said excluding union benefits is also practical.
“The reality is, unions are in the position where they are going to get hit the hardest on that tax, and they just can’t change it on a dime like everyone else,” Fronstin said.
Baucus is said to be considering a delay for everyone, not just unions.
“And there is precedent for that,” Fronstin said. “When the Clinton health plan was put on the table in 1993, the effective date was 1998. It was giving the industry time to implement whatever adjustments they needed to make.”
RE: Millions of federal employees and Unions might be exempt from health benefits tax - TheDancinMonarch - 10-22-2009 09:53 PM
Proving once again that what's good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.
RE: Millions of federal employees and Unions might be exempt from health benefits tax - smn1256 - 10-22-2009 10:12 PM
Quote:Union workers enjoy some of the most extensive and costliest health benefits, and union officials complained their members would be unfairly burdened by a health care tax because their contracts cannot be changed quickly enough to avoid it.
So these f'ckers think they're different than the rest of us, for them it's all gain and no pain. And what's with this contract change, they're gonna find a loophole while the rest of us suffer? Obama should tell them to go f'ck themselves, after all, who are they going to align themselves with, the GOP?
RE: Millions of federal employees and Unions might be exempt from health benefits tax - flyingswoosh - 10-23-2009 01:14 AM
The first article never states that federal employees might be exempt. All it says is that a couple of Reps. sent a letter to nancy pelosi begging for an exemption. I think your title is a little misleading
RE: Millions of federal employees and Unions might be exempt from health benefits tax - Owl 69/70/75 - 10-23-2009 06:55 AM
(10-23-2009 01:14 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote: The first article never states that federal employees might be exempt. All it says is that a couple of Reps. sent a letter to nancy pelosi begging for an exemption. I think your title is a little misleading
Ummm, what part of, "Baucus has proposed the tax threshold on health care benefits be set higher than the cost of policies available to federal employees and he has proposed exempting until 2013 those plans negotiated as part of union contracts," do you not understand?
RE: Millions of federal employees and Unions might be exempt from health benefits tax - I45owl - 10-23-2009 10:35 AM
(10-22-2009 12:16 PM)smn1256 Wrote: So these f'ckers think they're different than the rest of us, for them it's all gain and no pain. And what's with this contract change, they're gonna find a loophole while the rest of us suffer? Obama should tell them to go f'ck themselves, after all, who are they going to align themselves with, the GOP?
First, that would never happen (Obama moving against the unions), second, they always put the facade of considering to throw their support to someone not running as a Democrat. But, yeah, you're right.
RE: Millions of federal employees and Unions might be exempt from health benefits tax - Lord Stanley - 10-23-2009 01:29 PM
(10-23-2009 06:55 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:(10-23-2009 01:14 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote: The first article never states that federal employees might be exempt. All it says is that a couple of Reps. sent a letter to nancy pelosi begging for an exemption. I think your title is a little misleading
Ummm, what part of, "Baucus has proposed the tax threshold on health care benefits be set higher than the cost of policies available to federal employees and he has proposed exempting until 2013 those plans negotiated as part of union contracts," do you not understand?
American Indians are exempt as well. They are covered under a single payer health care plan through the BIA.
Lots of loopholes. As per usual........
RE: Millions of federal employees and Unions might be exempt from health benefits tax - SumOfAllFears - 10-23-2009 01:41 PM
Unions want to get rid of the secret ballot. Obama has given the Unions more than they could have dreamed. Everyone will want to join the unions to get this healthcare exemption. This will swell the rank and file beyond anyone's wildest dreams.
RE: Millions of federal employees and Unions might be exempt from health benefits tax - flyingswoosh - 10-23-2009 02:34 PM
(10-23-2009 06:55 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:(10-23-2009 01:14 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote: The first article never states that federal employees might be exempt. All it says is that a couple of Reps. sent a letter to nancy pelosi begging for an exemption. I think your title is a little misleading
Ummm, what part of, "Baucus has proposed the tax threshold on health care benefits be set higher than the cost of policies available to federal employees and he has proposed exempting until 2013 those plans negotiated as part of union contracts," do you not understand?
that's not in the first article. And i didn't mean your title, i meant the title of the first article. You took a quote from the second article and made it sound like it's from the first
RE: Millions of federal employees and Unions might be exempt from health benefits tax - SumOfAllFears - 10-23-2009 02:44 PM
(10-23-2009 02:34 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:(10-23-2009 06:55 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:(10-23-2009 01:14 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote: The first article never states that federal employees might be exempt. All it says is that a couple of Reps. sent a letter to nancy pelosi begging for an exemption. I think your title is a little misleading
Ummm, what part of, "Baucus has proposed the tax threshold on health care benefits be set higher than the cost of policies available to federal employees and he has proposed exempting until 2013 those plans negotiated as part of union contracts," do you not understand?
that's not in the first article. And i didn't mean your title, i meant the title of the first article. You took a quote from the second article and made it sound like it's from the first
I can tell you are confused.