Union issues report regarding so-called 'cadillac tax'

The Hill: "Growing increasingly anxious at the direction in which healthcare reform is heading, the labor movement is sending yet another signal of friction with the White House. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) released a new report Thursday that counters analysis by one of President Barack Obama's senior aides that the Senate version of the healthcare reform bill would not be tantamount to a tax hike on those making $250,000 or less." Unions especially take issue with a proposed excise tax on high-cost, "cadillac" insurance plans. These taxes would affect many of their members.

The Hill quotes as statement by CWA president Larry Cohen as saying, "'[t]his new data demonstrates irrefutably that the excise tax — which will result in reduced coverage and increased costs for our middle-class families — is the opposite of reform.' ... The CWA statement also makes note that its analysis 'tells a different story' from a White House blog post published Wednesday by Jason Furman, deputy director of the National Economic Council" (Bogardus, 12/17).  

Politico: "Major labor unions are still unwilling to oppose health care reform legislation or directly place blame on the White House, rather than the Senate." But the CWA moved in that direction today by "dropping the position that the hated excise tax is a pure senate product and sparring with a top White House economic advisor Jason Furman, who minimized the tax's impact in a recent blog item" (Smith, 12/17).