Top Democrats Considering Changes To ACA’s “Cadillac Tax.”

Reuters  (11/11, Cornwell) reports that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Tuesday that Democratic lawmakers are considering proposing changes to the ACA’s “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health plans. “I’m not proposing eliminating it at this point, I’m open to suggestions for changing it,” he told reporters. According to Reuters, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has also said he supports changing the levy. The White House on Monday defended the tax, but press secretary Josh Earnest did not rule out changes that “will strengthen the law.”

The Hill  (11/11, Sullivan, Ferris) reports that while there is bipartisan support for changing or repealing the Cadillac tax, the “sticking point could be making up the revenue that would be lost from repealing the Cadillac tax, which amounts to about $87 billion over 10 years.” Durbin said “nobody has a clue” how to make up that $87 billion.

The Hill  (11/11, Ferris) reports in a separate article that Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) “behind-the-scenes lobbying against the tax, which was first reported by The Hill on Friday, is reviving the five-year-old debate over the tax that pits nearly all congressional Democrats against Obama and his top economic advisers.” The article adds that labor unions “have made repealing the Cadillac tax one of their top priorities.”

 

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