“President Obama thought it was very
important to have additional access paid
for,” said Sebelius. “This just takes a big
step backwards.”
The deal was reached in late stage negotiations
between congressional leaders and Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin as part of a broader
agreement to keep the government operating
past this weekend. As part of the package, the
Trump administration would be barred from
using its rule-making authority to take certain
actions that would destabilize the ACA’s health
insurance markets.
But it punts on the two biggest consumer
health care issues this year: curbing
prescription drug costs and ending surprise
medical bills. Lawmakers will try again early
next year — when another round of budget
legislation is due.
The Cadillac Tax was intended as a levy on
the most generous plans, pegged at 40% of
the value above a certain threshold. In 2022
that threshold would have been $11,200 for
single coverage and $30,100 for a family plan,
according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family
Foundation. One in five employers would
have been affected.
The tax was widely supported by economists
and health policy experts, who argued it
would help confront the problem of high
U.S. health care spending. That’s because
employers were expected to scale back their
plans or shift costs to workers to avoid paying.
Many employers and labor unions opposed it
from the beginning.