A Loud Message to the Senate: Don't Tax Our Health Care

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) expresses opposition to the Senate's proposed excise tax on health benefits. With him are Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn), CWA Pres. Larry Cohen and CWA Local 2204 health care coordinator Valerie Castle-Stanley.

On the steps of the U.S. Capitol, leaders from CWA, the National Educational Association, the AFL-CIO and union members joined Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Representative Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) at a news conference that focused congressional and public attention on the devastating effect of the proposed Senate plan to tax health care benefits.

Sanders and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) have sponsored an amendment to strip the excise tax from the Senate bill and use funding sources passed by the House of Representatives. Representative Courtney gathered signatures from 187 of his House colleagues expressing their strong opposition to the excise tax plan.

CWA President Larry Cohen told the news conference that taxing employers that already provide benefits is bad public policy. "Instead of taxing those who already provide benefits, those employers who don't pay, should pay," he said.

This tax will hit 30 million families in the first five years of the plan, he said. Cohen also cited a new poll commissioned by CWA that finds that 70 percent of voters surveyed strongly oppose the tax on health benefits.

Valerie Castle-Stanley, a member of CWA Local 2204, said that "when I heard that some senators want to tax our health care benefits, I just couldn't believe it. It will hurt families like mine."

Castle-Stanley, who works at an AT&T relay center in Norton, Va., said CWA has bargained good benefits, benefits she and her family count on. "We're not rich. We're average middle class Americans. We need quality health care," she said.

"But there's no question that companies will look for ways to pass on this tax – they're sure not going to pay it. That means my benefits will be cut and my costs will go up. I support health care reform but I can't afford this tax," she said.