The Teamsters on Thursday announced their support for Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) amendment to eliminate the proposed excise tax on insurance plans from the Senate health care reform proposal.
The 40 percent tax would be levied on family plans worth more than $23,000 and individual plans worth more than $8,500, starting in 2013. As those thresholds rise with inflation, more and more plans would be subject to the tax.
"Millions of working Americans will pay thousands of dollars more in taxes under the Senate's proposal to finance health reform," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "Millions more will have their health benefits cut, even if they don't belong to a union."
Nearly two-thirds of employers would cut health benefits rather than pay the excise tax, according to a recent study by Mercer Consulting. Another 23 percent would pass the cost of the tax on to employees. Seven percent would simply terminate their plans.
"The idea that this tax will curtail rising premiums is just dead wrong," Hoffa said. "We much prefer the House plan, which would require the wealthiest Americans to pay back part of the tax cuts they have been given over the past decade."
Many plans are expensive because they cover workers in dangerous occupations, because they are in regions where insurers have near-monopoly power, or because they cover a group that's older than the general population.
Gary Willett, a member of Teamsters Local 730, spoke against the tax at a news conference with Sen. Sanders.