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Dear Member,
You may not have heard of the 40% benefits tax, also known as the “Cadillac” tax, but it’s a penalty built into the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that could affect your paycheck and health care benefits in 2018 if not sooner. It’s urgent that Congress repeal this tax because it could destroy the health and welfare funds of millions of workers, including you and your LIUNA brothers and sisters.
Tell Congress there is nothing affordable about the 40% benefits tax on health care!
The tax was intended to discourage overly generous and unnecessary plans. But there are unintended consequences for all workers, with union members taking the brunt of it.
As insurance premiums continue to rise, many quality mid-range plans will be subject to the tax – unless benefits and the quality of care are slashed or the plans shut down entirely. Because LIUNA members and other union workers have struggled and sacrificed for years to build quality healthcare plans, ours plans could face cuts sooner rather than later.
Two bills in the U.S. House of Representatives– one championed by Democratic Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut and one by Republican Rep. Frank Guinta of New Hampshire – would repeal the tax. Let’s keep up the momentum by urging the Senate to repeal this harmful tax
The 40 percent benefits tax doesn’t reform healthcare, it punishes responsible employers and workers who for generations have paid for quality health care coverage. Employers are already considering ways to slash benefits to avoid the tax.
Members of Congress are back in their districts until the end of August and they need to hear from you on this critical issue. Send a message to your Senators and urge them to introduce legislation to repeal the taxSenator Heller (R- NV) is planning on introducing legislation early in September. We need Democrats to show leadership and join him in introducing this important piece of legislation.
The stakes are high for LIUNA families and millions of fellow workers. This tax threatens to unravel our nation’s employer-sponsored health system that covers 150 million Americans.
With kind regards, I am
TERRY O’SULLIVAN
General President
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