Dive Brief:
- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) want to repeal the ACA's "Cadillac tax," betting this year is the last chance to make the dream a reality before the upcoming presidential election.
- According to The Hill, sources say the best bet is for Democrats to attach the repeal to the package known as tax extenders. "The cost of the extenders bill is typically not offset, making it an attractive vehicle for ending one of ObamaCare’s biggest revenue generators," The Hill reported. Although Reid and Pelosi have not decided on a plan, the timing is good as Democratic presidential candidates, including Hillary Clinton, have pledged to repeal the tax before its 2018 launch date.
- Big labor groups, like the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers, have been opposed to the tax from the beginning, saying it needs to be repealed quickly before employers start cutting healthcare benefits.
Dive Insight:
There are some major roadblocks to the repeal because the Cadillac tax is set as the main ACA strategy to contain costs across the marketplace. President Obama's top economic advisor, Jason Furman, said last month the tax is "perhaps the single biggest leverage we have on health costs in the private sector." The biggest challenge is how to replace the $87 billion in government revenue for the ACA.
Tom Leibfried, AFL-CIO lobbyist, said in an interview with The Hill, there are several ways to approach the repeal. One is an offset package House leaders didn't use earlier this year when creating the "doc fix" legislation. Another may be that Pelosi and Reid may have to agree to repeal the medical device tax to get more Republicans on board.