Marsh & McLennan Companies, a management consulting group, showed in their February study and policy briefing that in 2015 employers spent $668 billion on health benefits, which totaled to about 13 percent of their payroll. It also showed that businesses cover 61 percent (about 177 million Americans) of those covered by health insurance and 16 times more than those covered under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) federal or state exchanges. Another study by Oliver Wyman, part of the Marsh & McLennan Companies, revealed that the health industry will soon be obliged to pay health insurance taxes.
This cost will be passed down to businesses and individual insurance holders, causing them to be obligated to pay higher and higher premiums. This cost was shown to result in businesses paying an extra $280 per employee per year and individual insurance holders the extra cost of $400 per year.
House resolved to keep premiums low
In an effort to ensure businesses and individual insurance holders are not faced with continuing premium increases, State Representative Clay Cox (R-Liburn), on Tuesday March 14, 2017, introduced House Resolution 5892, urging the U.S. Congress to act immediately to repeal the Affordable Care Act's health insurance tax. This repeal would also reduce costs for Medicaid programs provided by the states, and lower premiums for seniors enrolling in Medicare advantage plans.
Rep. Cox's resolution matches House Resolution 246, Jobs and Premium Protection Act 2017, a bipartisan effort introduced by State Representatives Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Kristi Noem (R-SD) in January of this year.
Both resolutions were introduced knowing that if the health insurance tax was not repealed it would cause higher premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs for their constituents.
The Representatives also recognized that American small and big businesses already carry the burden of helping fund Medicaid and Medicare, as well as supporting the individual insurance markets to the tune of over $16 billion. They fear that without the repeal of the ACA health insurance tax, there is a strong possibility that it could also cost roughly over 200,000 American small business jobs across the U.S. by 2023.
