Free Republic

With the date of its imposition in the United States on January 1, 2014, drawing nearer, what President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA) calls the health insurance provider fee, or, as it is known under its more general name, the health insurance tax (HIT), is arousing increasing opposition. Beginning in 2014, the ACA assesses a fee on health insurance providers that, across the industry, will total USD8bn, increasing to USD14.3bn by 2018, and then will continue to increase based on premium trends every year. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) has estimated that the fee, which, it has said,...

Politics: The GOP has been invited by the administration to a health care summit. Will it be an effort to pass real reform, or an attempt to lure Republicans into a bipartisan disaster? When Democrats thought their absolute majorities in the House and Senate guaranteed the passage of government-run health care, they had no use for either GOP input or transparency. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were quite content to fundamentally transform one-sixth of the American economy behind the closed doors of a Senate room. They dismissed the rising anger of the...

Q. ... [W]hy is it fair for individuals who have so-called Cadillac plans that have been negotiated through collective bargaining agreements to be exempt until 2018 from the proposed excise tax, whereas those who might be in the exact same situation but are not part of labor unions -- even if they want to be and their company resisted, or many they're in right-to-work states -- why is it fair for one group to not get a tax and others to -- MR. GIBBS: I would say this. I've asked to see what numbers they can run. We're talking about...

WASHINGTON—Labor leaders and Democratic negotiators reached agreement over the issue of a proposed tax on high-end health plans, people familiar with the discussions said Thursday. The details of the agreement couldn't immediately be learned. The tax has been one of the key issues remaining as Democrats work through differences in the House and Senate health bills passed late last year. The Senate bill includes a 40% tax on plans valued at more than $23,000 for a family and $8,500 for an individual. The House bill doesn't contain that tax. Unions fear it could hit some union members who have negotiated...

The White House has reached a tentative agreement with union leaders to tax high-cost medical plans, one of the final obstacles in the way of President Barack Obama's health care remake, officials said Thursday.

President Obama has yet again summoned Democrats from House and Senate leadership to the White House to determine their final strategy to pass some bill that reconciles the disparate healthcare “reform” measures passed by each congressional body. Republicans were not invited to today’s meeting. Among those expected at the White House either in person or by teleconference are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). If the majority leadership cannot agree to try to strong-arm the Senate-passed bill through the House without changes...

An excise tax on high-priced insurance policies might violate President Obama's pledge to not raise taxes on the middle class, House Democratic Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said last night. "I do not want to see anything jeopardize the president's promise not to raise taxes on the middle-class," Clyburn told MSNBC last night. "And that could very well get us there." The House healthcare bill to be unveiled today will not include such a tax, but the Senate bill does. Under the Senate bill, an excise tax on so-called "Cadillac" insurance policies would help pay for subsidies and expanded coverage. President...