ICYMI: SHRM Article on The November Election’s Impact on Health Care Reform and the 'Cadillac Tax'

ICYMI: SHRM Article on The November Election’s Impact on Health Care Reform and the 'Cadillac Tax'

 

A recent Society for Human Resource Management article, After ACA Repeal, Most Employers Would Keep Some Provisions — The November election will chart health care reform’s future, summarized a recent IFEBP panel, highlighting the impact the looming November election will have on the health care landscape — especially the 40% tax on health benefits, also known as the Cadillac Tax.  

 

Excerpts from the article:

• The future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be hotly debated this election season, with a renewed push to repeal should the GOP triumph, and at least modest revisions if the Democrats keep the White House, according to speakers at the recent International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) Washington Legislative Update.

• According to a new IFEBP survey report, to avoid the 40 percent "Cadillac tax" on high-cost health plans, over a quarter (28 percent) of employers are currently working on plan design changes and an additional 38 percent intend to do so before the tax takes effect in 2020. Among these employers, the most common actions taken or planned are moving to a high-deductible health plan (43 percent), shifting costs to employees (42 percent), dropping higher cost plans (31 percent) or reducing benefits (30 percent).

• "Whether or not the Cadillac tax goes into effect, it will have left an impact on the health care landscape," said [Julie] Stich [research director at IFEBP]. "Employers are taking cost-shifting measures to avoid the tax and these efforts are shaping how Americans use and receive health care coverage."

• Both presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump have said they favor repeal of the Cadillac tax, making it possible this could be the one big change that goes through whichever party wins the White House.

 

 

TheAlliance to Fight the 40 is a broad-based coalition comprised of public and private sector employer organizations, consumer groups, patient advocates, unions, health care companies, businesses and other stakeholders that support employer-sponsored health coverage. This coverage is the backbone of our health care system and protects over 175 million Americans across the United States. The Alliance seeks to repeal the 40% tax on employee health benefits to ensure that employer-sponsored coverage remains an effective and affordable option for working Americans and their families.

ICYMI: New Study Highlights the Cadillac Tax’s Continued Threat to Health Coverage

ICYMI: New Study Highlights the Cadillac Tax’s Continued Threat to Health Coverage

 

A new study by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, the 2016 Employer-Sponsored Health Care: ACA's Impact, highlights the effect the “Cadillac Tax” will have on employer-sponsored health coverage.

 

Key findings include:

• 28% of employers are working to avoid the “Cadillac Tax”
• 59 % of organizations working on changes to avoid the tax are not considering halting efforts based on the two-year delay in the tax.
• Nearly three-quarters (73%) of employers have already adopted plan design changes to avoid the tax, are now trying to do so or plan to do so before it takes effect in 2020.

 

According to the report, workers are already seeing higher deductibles and increased out of pockets costs.  

 

We must repeal the “Cadillac Tax” now.

If we wait, it will be too late.

 

 

The study can be found here.

 

The Alliance to Fight the 40 is a broad-based coalition comprised of public and private sector employer organizations, consumer groups, patient advocates, unions, health care companies, businesses and other stakeholders that support employer-sponsored health coverage. This coverage is the backbone of our health care system and protects over 175 million Americans across the United States. The Alliance seeks to repeal the 40% tax on employee health benefits to ensure that employer-sponsored coverage remains an effective and affordable option for working Americans and their families.

 

 

ICYMI: CancerCare Releases Landmark Study, Highlights Financial Impact of Cancer

ICYMI: CancerCare Releases Landmark Study

Highlights Financial Impact of Cancer

Looming “Cadillac Tax” Poses Greater Burden

 

This week, Alliance to Fight the 40 member, CancerCare released its landmarkstudy to provide a comprehensive view of how people experience life with and beyond cancer. The study consisted of six surveys, each with at least 500 respondents, including one on the financial and insurance issues facing cancer patients and their families.

 

The Alliance is working with CancerCare to repeal the “Cadillac Tax,” which is a 40% tax on health benefits and threatens the employer-sponsored coverage of 175 million Americans. The study illustrates that cancer patients and their families are already under tremendous financial strain. The “Cadillac Tax” must be repealed to prevent further financial burdens for patients that may compromise their ability to pay for life saving treatment.

 

Key Findings: Financial and Insurance Issues

• Fifty-eight percent of respondents reported being distressed about their finances during treatment. Among those 25 to 54, three-quarters said cancer caused them financial hardship.

• In order to afford treatment, one-third of respondents ages 25 to 54 reported cutting back on daily essentials, such as groceries and transportation, and/or borrowed from family members and friends; 21% missed a utility bill payment; and 17% missed a rent or mortgage payment.

• A quarter reported being dissatisfied with the affordability of deductibles, and nearly 20% were dissatisfied with their poor access to genetic testing, clinical trials, and new treatments or drugs.

• When asked to tabulate their average monthly out-of-pocket spending for treatment-related expenses, non-elderly respondents reported spending $1,112, nearly twice as much as those 65 and older.

• The findings of this survey indicate that costs related to accessing medical care are important barriers to following physicians’ recommendations at the time of a cancer diagnosis.

Click here for the 2016 CancerCare Patient Access and Engagement Report

 

TheAlliance to Fight the 40 is a broad-based coalition comprised of public and private sector employer organizations, consumer groups, patient advocates, unions, health care companies, businesses and other stakeholders that support employer-sponsored health coverage. This coverage is the backbone of our health care system and protects over 175 million Americans across the United States. The Alliance seeks to repeal the 40% tax on employee health benefits to ensure that employer-sponsored coverage remains an effective and affordable option for working Americans and their families.

Women Targeted by the "Cadillac Tax"

As we end Teacher’s Appreciation Week and head in to Mother’s Day and Women’s Health Week, it’s time to acknowledge the importance of good health coverage that protects the millions of hard working moms, and women, everywhere.  The Affordable Care Act has helped millions to gain access to health insurance. Unfortunately, there’s a provision in the Affordable Care Act that will go in to effect in 2020 that threatens the health coverage 175 million Americans who receive health coverage through their employers.  While it is known as a “Cadillac Tax” because it’s supposed to hit “luxury” health plans, in reality, it’s a crappy mini-van tax that disproportionately targets women simply because they happen to have higher health care costs, not because they have fancy health plans.

 

To celebrate women, and protect their health coverage, tell Congress to repeal the “Cadillac Tax.”

 

To learn more: www.fightthe40.com

ICYMI: Health Affairs Blog Cautions Implementing the “Cadillac Tax”

ICYMI: Health Affairs Blog Profiles Problems with the “Cadillac Tax”

 

“About That Cadillac Tax,” an April 25 Health Affairs Blog post by Jeff Lemieux and Chad Moutray, highlights two serious problems with the 40% tax on health benefits:

 

“There are two key practical issues with the tax: the indexing problem and the adaptation question. In our opinion, these are serious enough issues to warrant continued caution before implementing the Cadillac tax.”

 

 

First, the tax threshold amounts are indexed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). With health care costs rising faster than CPI, every year more and more health plans will be subject to the tax. The second problem is how employers prepare for the tax, by cutting benefits and moving to higher deductible plans, which ultimately means workers will bear the cost of the tax.

 

The authors “worry the tax will cause employers to continue to shift costs to beneficiaries through higher and higher deductibles.” 

 

In addition, the two economists fear “even the most innovative firms could struggle to find alternative ways to cut costs quickly enough to avoid the tax, and might have to default to continuously higher deductibles. Overly high deductibles, in turn, could become clinically inefficient. That is ever-higher deductibles could lead to the delay or avoidance of appropriate and necessary health care for too many patients, especially those with low incomes. In those cases, the deductibles could cause reductions in health status sufficient to raise overall or long-term health costs, not lower them.”

 

To view the Health Affairs Blog post, click here.

 

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The Alliance to Fight the 40 is a broad-based coalition comprised of public and private sector employer organizations, consumer groups, patient advocates, unions, health care companies, businesses and other stakeholders that support employer-sponsored health coverage. This coverage is the backbone of our health care system and protects over 175 million Americans across the United States. The Alliance seeks to repeal the 40% tax on employee health benefits to ensure that employer-sponsored coverage remains an effective and affordable option for working Americans and their families.

 

ICYMI: Nationwide poll shows voter support for lawmakers who vote to repeal “Cadillac Tax,” strong skepticism of proponents’ claims

ICYMI: Nationwide poll shows voter support for lawmakers who vote to repeal “Cadillac Tax,” strong skepticism of proponents’ claims

A new survey released last week by the American Benefits Council, a member of the Alliance to Fight the 40, found that American voters across the country agree that the so-called “Cadillac Tax” on employee benefits should be repealed.

James A. Klein, President of the American Benefits Council, highlights the key takeaways of the survey:

• “Today’s survey not only shows that those favoring repeal outnumber those favoring implementation by more than three to one, it also reveals deep skepticism that the tax will deliver on its purported benefits.”
• “Proponents have offered up two consistent arguments for implementing the tax: they say it will help fund the Affordable Care Act and it will lower health costs. But voters overwhelmingly reject the flawed assumptions behind both of these assertions, particularly the laugh-out-loud notion that employers will automatically raise wages as they reduce health benefits.”
• “There are two particularly noteworthy findings in this survey.  First, we expected the public would see some positive and some negative consequences of the tax.  But by wide margins voters conclude that the possible positive results of the Cadillac tax are the least likely to occur, and the negative consequences are most likely to occur.”
• “Additionally, despite the partisan debate regarding the Affordable Care Act, overall, there is remarkable agreement across the political spectrum that the Cadillac tax should be repealed.   And voters in both Democratic and Republican districts report that they are more likely to vote to re-elect their Congressional representative if she/he votes to repeal the Cadillac tax.”

Read the key findings and topline results here.



The Alliance to Fight the 40 is a broad based coalition comprised of public and private sector employer organizations, consumer groups, patient advocates, unions, health care companies, businesses and other stakeholders that support employer-sponsored health coverage. This coverage is the backbone of our health care system and protects over 175 million Americans across the United States. The Alliance seeks to repeal the 40% tax on employee health benefits to ensure that employer-sponsored coverage remains an effective and affordable option for working Americans and their families.



For more information on the 40% Tax on Health Benefits, visit our website at www.fightthe40.com or follow us on Twitter @Fightthe40.

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Alliance to Fight the 40 Opposes FY 2017 Budget Provision to Tweak the “Cadillac Tax”

For Immediate Release
February 9, 2016

Alliance to Fight the 40 Opposes FY 2017 Budget Provision
to Tweak the “Cadillac Tax”

Washington, DC— The Alliance to Fight the 40, a broad-based coalition seeking to repeal the 40% tax on employee health benefits, today urged Congress to repeal the “Cadillac Tax,” as the proposal included in the President’s FY 2017 fails to address the numerous structural problems with the tax.

“Congress must repeal the ‘Cadillac tax’ to protect health benefits for 175 million hardworking Americans, retirees, and their families,” said James A. Klein, President of the American Benefits Council. “The President’s proposal acknowledges that the tax is seriously flawed, but takes extremely modest steps to address the problem,” said Klein.

Specifically, the proposal provides a geographic adjuster to the threshold rates in states where the average premium for “gold” coverage on the state’s individual health insurance marketplace would exceed the current-law "Cadillac Tax" threshold. The adjusted rate in those states would be set at the level of average gold premium. 

“Even if that change were made, it would not address the terribly unfair impact of the tax on plans that are expensive simply because they cover a large number of women, older or disabled employees and families whose members have chronic conditions or catastrophic health events. The proposal merely requests a study of the impact of the tax on sick workers,” noted Klein.

“This flawed tax allows people obtaining coverage in the individual market exchanges substantially richer benefits than what may be offered to people getting coverage from their employers,” said Klein. The “Cadillac Tax” thresholds include a variety of health care benefits beyond premiums. On-site medical clinics, employee assistance programs, wellness programs and employer and employee HRA/HSA/FSA contributions all count toward the “Cadillac Tax” thresholds. The budget proposal would compare the premium-only price of coverage sold in the individual exchanges to the more comprehensive "Cadillac Tax" thresholds, forcing employers to offer skimpier benefits to stay below the new thresholds. 

Employers have been engaged in innovative health care cost control for decades. By contrast, this proposal does nothing to reduce the true drivers of increasing health care costs.  

“Finally, the President’s budget continues to rely on the erroneous assumption that workers will see wage increases commensurate to the health benefit cuts they will suffer. To the contrary, employer surveys continue to show that employers are reluctantly making benefits reductions now. Yet the Administration has presented no actual evidence that wages will rise in response to benefit cuts,” said Klein.

The Alliance to Fight the 40 is a broad based coalition comprised of public and private sector employer organizations, consumer groups, patient advocates, unions, health care companies, businesses and other stakeholders that support employer-sponsored health coverage. This coverage is the backbone of our health care system and protects over 175 million Americans across the United States. The Alliance seeks to repeal the 40% tax on employee health benefits to ensure that employer-sponsored coverage remains an effective and affordable option for working Americans and their families.

For more information on the 40% Tax on Health Benefits, visit our website at www.fightthe40.com or follow us on Twitter @Fightthe40.

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