MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Health insurance companies stand to benefit the most from healthcare reform, but the industry is fighting hard in its efforts to repeal a levy which will go towards paying for Obamacare.
America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, the national trade association representing the health insurance industry, estimates that taxes on insurance plans scheduled to start in 2014 will net the Feds more than $100 billion over the next decade, as much as the medical device excise tax and pharmaceutical industry fee combined.
That doesn’t sit well with the powerful lobbying organization, which has increased its efforts to repeal the tax on Capitol Hill.
A bid to repeal the tax, H.R. 763 sponsored by Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.), currently has 199 co-sponsors on The Hill; a companion bill in the Senate, S.603 sponsored by John Barrasso (R-Wy.), has 19 co-sponsors.
The taxes on insurance plans are slated to begin at $8 billion in 2014, increasing to $14.3 billion in 2018. The lobbying group says health insurance companies will raise premiums on coverage in order to offset the costs.
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