Congressman Leads 156 House Members In Opposition To Excise Tax On Health Care Benefits

Washington, Oct 7 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney hosted a press conference in Washington on Wednesday to announce that his letter urging Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to reject any excise tax on high-cost health care benefit plans has been signed by more than sixty percent of the House Democratic Caucus.

In the letter delivered to the Speaker on Wednesday, Rep. Courtney and the 156 cosigners express their opposition to the Senate Finance Committee’s proposal to place a 40 percent excise tax on high-cost health care benefit plans, which the House Members believe would be passed along by the insurers to working families and individuals.

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Congressman Joe Courtney was joined by Representatives Pete Stark (CA-13), Sander Levin (MI-12), Betty Sutton (OH-13), and Mazie Hirono (HI-02) who all spoke on behalf of working families and individuals.

Click here to download letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Congressman Courtney stated, "As Congress continues to work on comprehensive health care reform, it is important that we remember who we are fighting for and ensure that the people we are trying to help the most, aren’t hurt the most. This letter should send a clear signal to House Leadership that an excise tax on health plans will be an additional and substantial tax burden on working families. A majority of Democrats believes that is the wrong direction for health care reform."

"The proposed tax on benefits undermines a basic principle of the reform proposals – to build on the employer-based health care system," said Rep. Sander Levin. "The Joint Committee on Taxation says the Senate Finance Committee tax would hit approximately 15% of all employer-provided plans in the first year. By the seventh year, it would hit nearly 40% of plans. Proponents of the tax argue that it will help to reduce the growth in health care costs. This is a critical goal, one that I have been working on, but taxing benefits is not the way to achieve this aim."

"In these challenging economic times, our middle-class families cannot be asked to carry the burden of extra taxes or higher premiums, while large insurance companies continue to make record profits," Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) said.

The Senate Finance Committee’s proposed 40 percent excise tax included in America’s Health Future Act will inevitably be passed onto insurance purchasers. Beginning in 2013, the threshold for individual plans will be $8,000 and $21,000 for family coverage which has already been surpassed by many middle-income Americans, especially in a high health care cost state such as Connecticut. For middle-income Americans that have forgone wage and salary increases for strong insurance benefits, these thresholds are simply too low.

Current Cosigners (157): Abercrombie, Ackerman, Arcuri, Baca, Baldwin, Berkley, Bishop (GA), Bishop (NY), Blumenauer, Boccieri, Boren, Boswell, Boucher, Brady (PA), Braley, Brown (FL), Capps, Capuano, Carnahan, Carson, Christensen, Chu, Clarke, Clay, Cleaver, Cohen, Conyers, Costello, Courtney, Crowley, Cummings, Davis (IL), Davis (TN), DeFazio, Delahunt, Doggett, Doyle, Driehaus, Edwards (MD), Ellison, Ellsworth, Engel, Fattah, Filner, Foster, Frank, Fudge, Green (Al), Green (Gene), Grijalva, Gutierrez, Hall (NY), Halvorson, Hare, Hastings (FL), Heinrich, Higgins, Himes, Hinchey, Hirono, Hodes, Holden, Holt, Honda, Israel, Jackson (IL), Jackson-Lee, Johnson (TX), Johnson (GA), Kagen, Kaptur, Kennedy, Kildee, Kilpatrick, Kilroy, Kucinich, Langevin, Lee (CA), Levin, Lewis (GA), Lipinski, Loebsack, Lowey, Lujan, Lynch, Maffei, Maloney, Massa, McCarthy (NY), McCollum, McDermott, McGovern, McMahon, Meek, Meeks, Michaud, Miller (NC), Mollohan, Moore (WI), Murphy (CT), Murphy (NY), Murtha, Nadler, Napolitano, Oberstar, Olver, Ortiz, Pascrell, Pastor, Payne, Perriello, Pingree, Quigley, Rahall, Reyes, Richardson, Ross, Rothman, Royal-Allard, Rush, Ryan (OH), Sanchez (Linda), Sanchez (Loretta), Sarbanes, Schakowsky, Schauer, Schrader, Schwartz, Scott (GA), Serrano, Sestak, Shea-Porter, Sherman, Shuler, Sires, Space, Speier, Stark, Stupak, Sutton, Thompson (MS), Tierney, Titus, Tonko, Towns, Velazquez, Visclosky, Walz, Waters, Watson, Weiner, Welch, Wexler, Wilson (OH), Woolsey, Wu, Yarmuth

Source: Congressman Joe Courtney