IAFF General President Harold A. Schaitberger and Democratic allies of organized labor in the House weighed in strongly against a Senate Finance Committee plan to tax so-called Cadillac health insurance plans to finance a health care overhaul.
Warning at a press conference that the Senate Finance proposal is a non-starter, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., sent a letter signed by 157 House Democrats, including several senior members of the Ways and Means Committee, to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., urging her to reject excise tax proposals.
The plan pushed by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., would assess a 40 percent tax on high-value insurance plans. The Finance Committee could approve its draft bill as early as Thursday, sending it to the Senate floor next week.
The tax has raised concerns among some senators, but it is a central part of Baucus plan to raise the revenue needed to pay for an expansion of coverage to the uninsured and other key parts of his bill. His effort has been encouraged by the White House.
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