Health Insurers Protest Premium Tax to Fund Ailing Rhode Island Hospital

Tags: Caritas Christi Health Care | insurers | Landmark Medical Center | premium tax | Rhode Island

Health Insurance company representatives appeared before Rhode Island's House Finance Committee to oppose a plan to raise a state tax on insurance premiums that would raise $20 million for Landmark Medical Center, in Woonsocket, R.I., according to a report in The Providence Journal.

The money at issue would be used to help Landmark clinch a merger agreement with Massachusetts-based Caritas Christi Health Care. Under the proposed deal, Landmark would have to provide half of an estimated $40 million to pay for needed capital improvements at the hospital.

Insurers told House committee members that the tax burden would fall on small and medium-sized employers and their workers, according to the report. The bill would raise the existing 2-percent tax on premiums by a quarter of a percentage point for four years, generating $5 million per year, to be given to Landmark.

Read The Providence Journal's report on the insurance premium tax for Landmark Medical Center.

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