According to the US Chamber and others a deal has been reached with organized labor to lessen the impact of the 40% excise tax on high cost plans, that is for collectively bargained plans.
Unions Exempt? – We are hearing that a “compromise” has been reached between the Senate and the House committee chairs (remember, the House folks were arguing on behalf of unions). What they may have agreed to is raising the exemption from the “Cadillac” high-cost insurance tax to $23,000 for a family of four – as well as exempting collectively bargained plans that negotiate their contracts before 2013. In practice, this means that non-union workers will pay the Cadillac tax, and union workers will not, until probably 2015 or 2016.
What a way to run a health care system, deal upon deal whether it be doctors, unions, drug companies, hospitals, the AARP, Ben Nelson and who knows who else? Remind me again who said the days of lobbyists in Washington influencing legislation are over?
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 