St. Paul schools may adjust health plans to avoid 'Cadillac tax'

Pioneer Press ^ | 7-22-15 | Josh Verfes

[TurboZamboni]

St. Paul Public Schools employees are likely to see their health benefits curtailed as the school district looks to avoid financial penalties set to begin in 2018. The Affordable Care Act's "Cadillac Tax" provision will charge employers an excise tax on high-cost plans -- 40 percent on every dollar over $10,200 on individual and $27,500 on family plans.

Jeni Simon, a consultant with Aon Hewitt, told school board members Tuesday that companies already are redesigning their health plans in order to avoid paying the tax. A survey found 92 percent of U.S. employers expect their health plans to change by 2018, and 47 percent said they'll be significantly different. "This could be crippling financially for an organization," Simon said.

The school district has generous health plans that haven't changed in 10 years, Simon said. Among the options for getting under the tax cap are eliminating spousal coverage or flexible savings accounts, or charging higher co-pays or deductibles. Simon said employers generally will be reducing premiums and shifting more of the burden to out-of-pocket payers. That means healthier employees will benefit from larger paychecks, while heavy health care users will pay more than before.

"The only way (for an employer) to pay less is to shift more out-of-pocket costs to the employee," Simon said. The tax has been projected to raise $87 billion over 10 years and will help pay for the Affordable Care Act. It is hoped that less generous health plans will persuade people to be smarter and more frugal health care consumers.

[TurboZamboni]

If you like your tax, you can keep it.

[bert]

if you keep it, will you like it?....... will you pay for it?

[TurboZamboni]

let those teachers pay it. I’m sure their union supported bammycare.

[9YearLurker]

No reason for teachers to have health care that their employers (the taxpayers) can’t afford for themselves.

[ßuddaßudd]

How did they miss out on their ACA exemption?

[GreyFriar]

I’m guessing those Democrat teachers in St. Paul are going to schedule a massive ralley supporting Obama’s promises that ObamaNOcare is reducing their premiums and giving them more and better coverage.

[ZULU]

This is what the Obama bastard has in mind, Eliminate private health care plans and people will be forced to support National Healthcare . Currently the insurance companies are doing quite well, but in the long run they too will hang themselves.

If the Obamanistas are successful with National Healthcare, it will allow them to expand government, further limit personal freedom, control the masses and use healthcare to punish dissidents.

This is not good.

[randita]

Unions have lobbied for an exemption to the Cadillac tax but all they’ve achieved so far was a delay in its implementation.

I foresee a spate of teachers’ strikes next year. It will be hard for teachers to win the sympathy of the taxpayers, who are paying exorbitant insurance premiums for zilch coverage.

[oblomov]

There won’t be a single national payment system, but in a few years there will be just a handful of private payers. This was in fact the goal of Obamacare- a corporatist/fascist/crony capitalist public-private partnership from which there would be no escape.

Merger mania is underway in the health insurance industry.

[Red Badger]

I don’t get this ‘Cadillac’ tax thing. ObozoCare was supposed to make sure that everyone got health insurance, but if you get ‘TOO MUCH’ you have to pay a penalty..................................

[Buckeye McFrog]

Rumor is Hillary has already cut her deals with the unions to grant them all waivers.