CWA's Bottom Line: Real Health Care Reform, No Tax on Benefits

The health care bill that passed the Senate Finance Committee this week would be a disaster for working families and retirees. CWA is continuing to work with the Obama administration, supporters in Congress, other unions and allies for real reform.

There are now three legislative proposals on health care. H.R. 3200, America's Affordable Health Choices Act, is the bill that best meets CWA's priorities: no tax on health care; all employers must pay their fair share; a public plan option; and protections for pre-Medicare retirees.

The bill produced by the Senate HELP Committee makes some improvements but doesn't do enough on employer mandates, and the Senate Finance Committee bill would make our health care system worse, not better. The Senate now will take up those two versions to produce one bill.

A new CWA report based on data from the Joint Committee on Taxation and an analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice found that 40 percent of health care plans would be hit with the excise tax in just six years. The tax would hit middle income families, older workers and those in hazardous jobs especially hard, the report found.

"This is a tax on the middle class and will lead to even more cost shifting to workers," said CWA President Larry Cohen. "It is simply wrong to make those employers who already are paying, pay even more by hitting them with a 40 percent excise tax while not requiring anything from employers who don't provide health care to employees." 

CWAers are continuing to call their Senators to tell them not to tax workers' health care and make all employers pay their fair share. For more information, go to www.healthcarevoices.org.