Here are four things to know.
1. The bill to reopen the government delays the 40 percent excise tax for two years, according to The Washington Post. It was slated to take effect in 2020 but was delayed until 2022.
2. Originally, the tax was slated to start in 2018. It had already been suspended once in a 2015 bipartisan tax and spending deal, according to The Hill.
3. James Klein, president of the Washington, D.C.-based American Benefits Council, praised the most recent delay of the tax “that is driving up healthcare costs for millions of Americans.”
“Employer-sponsored health coverage is efficient, effective, and stable. Taxing health benefits would compel employers to stop offering wellness programs and on-site clinics and to reluctantly ask employees to bear higher out-of-pocket costs,” he said in a statement. “We will continue efforts to fully repeal this onerous tax and appreciate that Congress has passed this two-year delay as a down payment for full repeal.”
4. The short-term funding bill passed by Congress also includes a two-year delay of the ACA’s medical device tax as well as a suspension of the ACA’s health insurance tax. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the delay of all three ACA taxes will decrease federal revenue by $31.3 billion over a decade, with $14.8 billion of that attributed to delay of the Cadillac tax, according to The Hill.
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