It should come as no surprise the Republican Health Care Plan give insurance company CEO’s a sweet tax break. While at the same time imposing hardship on many less fortunate members of society.
WASHINGTON — The Republican plan to replace Obamacare includes a tax break for insurance company executives making over $500,000 per year.
Companies can generally deduct employee salaries as a business expense but in 2013 the Affordable Care Act capped the deductions on health insurance executive salaries at $500,000.
The average compensation for top health insurance executives is in the millions. In 2014 the left-leaning Institute for Policy Studies found that this cap generated $72 million in additional tax revenue.
But that cap is being eliminated in the new American Health Care Act unveiled Monday by Republicans. That means the more health insurance companies pay their executives the less they will pay in taxes.
“Unlike Obamacare, our legislation doesn’t include policies that discriminate against specific industries,” said a Republican aide.
The policy is a win for the health insurance industry and arguably a surprising move for Republicans after they frequently condemned the industry in the Obamacare debates.
“The insurance industry got us into this mess and I think they’re going to have to pay the price for it,” Rep. Raul Labrador said recently.
Sen. John McCain said he didn’t even want to hear the industry’s proposals after they supported the Affordable Care Act. “They have no relevance to me. I don’t want to hear from them,” he said.
In cases like Cigna CEO David Cordani or Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, both of whom have hit annual remuneration of over $17 million, the new tax savings on their salaries would be substantial.
We anxiously wait to see all the details of the republicans plan.
Be sure to pay close attention because the republicans want to railroad the plan through in three short weeks.
Timothy Jost – In considering the Affordable Care Act in 2009 and 2010, the House held 79 hearings over the course of a year, heard from 181 witnesses and accepted 121 amendments. The current House leadership hopes to get the repeal and replacement legislation through the House in three weeks. The Senate adopted the Affordable Care Act only after approximately 100 hearings, roundtables, walkthroughs and other meetings, and after 25 consecutive days in continuous session debating the bill. It is expected that the current House bill will go directly to the floor of the Senate for a vote. Whatever passes the Senate will return for a conference with the House, if it varies from the House bill, and then go to the President for his signature.
Of course, there is no assurance that this process will go smoothly. Little or no help can be expected from the Democrats and there are signs of serious dissension within the Republicans. The Republicans hold only 52 votes in the Senate and cannot afford to lose more than two (assuming Vice President Pence casts a deciding vote), which is quite possible given the traditional independence of the Senate. But the legislation introduced in the committees give the clearest indication yet where the Republican Congress is headed.
