Boustany: Stop The HIT

(Washington, DC) – Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr., M.D., (R-South Louisiana) will introduce legislation today with Representative Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to repeal the Health Insurance Tax (HIT). The HIT is a provision included within ObamaCare that is a direct tax on health insurance providers for the services they provide to individuals, families, and other beneficiaries. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), this tax is passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs.

Ø  The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimates that eliminating this tax by 2016 could save families $350 to $400 in premium costs. Conversely, a study by economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin shows that over 10 years, the HIT could increase the average family premium by $5,000.

Ø  According to the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation, the HIT will cost between 152,000 and 286,000 lost jobs by 2023, with 57% of those lost jobs represented in small businesses, and between $20 billion and $33 billion in lost economic activity.

Ø  The cost of the tax in 2014, the first year of its implementation, was $8 billion – but that number will climb to $14.3 billion by 2018. JCT estimates that the cost of the tax will reach $100 billion over the next decade.

Boustany said: “American families and small businesses are on the brink of being crushed under the weight of the Health Insurance Tax. This provision drives up costs for individuals, families, and small businesses while threatening hundreds of thousands of lost jobs over the next decade. Republicans and Democrats agree this tax must be repealed to lower costs for consumers and improve accessibility to high-quality care for all Americans.”

Sinema said: “I hear every day from individuals, families, and businesses in Arizona about the cost of health care. This common sense fix will help lower out of pocket costs for hardworking Arizonans. By working together, we can provide relief for individuals, families, and employers while increasing access to quality affordable health care.”

Boustany introduced similar legislation with former Representative Jim Matheson (D-UT) in the 112th and 113th Congress, where the bill gained 226 and 231 bipartisan cosponsors, respectively.