Hatch on Consequences of Job-Killing Health Insurance Tax

Utah Senator Says, “We need to end this assault on small businesses and relieve them from this job crushing law by repealing this health insurance tax and ObamaCare in its entirety.”

WASHINGTON –U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, today joined U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and U.S. Reps. Charles Boustany (R-La.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah) along with members of the Stop the HIT coalition to highlight the six-month countdown to repeal the health insurance tax (HIT) included in the President’s health law.

“The President promised that the health law would lower health care costs and reduce premiums by $2,500,” said Hatch. “We told him before the law passed that there was no way he could keep this promise. And, here we are today watching ObamaCare unravel as middle-class families pay the price. We need to end this assault on small businesses and relieve them from this job crushing law by repealing this health insurance tax and ObamaCare in its entirety.”

Starting in 2014, health insurance companies will be hit with a tax based on their net premiums written in the fully-insured market. Eighty-seven percent of small businesses purchase their insurance in this market, as does the self-employed and uninsured. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) predicts this tax could result in 146,000 to 262,000 fewer jobs between now and 2023 - with more than half of those losses falling on the backs of small businesses.

This Congress, Hatch has introduced legislation (S.603) with Senator Barrasso (R-Wyo.) to repeal the tax on job creators and their employees. Reps. Boustany and Matheson have introduced companion legislation (H.R. 763) in the U.S. House of Representatives. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), eliminating the HIT would save an average family $350-$400 in 2016, alone.

Hatch has spearheaded efforts in Washington to repeal the $2.6 trillion partisan health spending law. In addition to the HIT repeal bill, Hatch has introduced legislation that would repeal the two central pillars of the Affordable Care Act, the employer and individual mandates, and has bipartisan legislation repealing the medical device tax that partially funds the law.

Hatch delivered the following remarks at today’s news conference:

Just about every week it seems as though another part of ObamaCare is rolled back or delayed. Given the size, scope and nature of legislation that was jammed through Congress in such a partisan manner, the monumental problems of getting ObamaCare online shouldn’t be surprising.

But that’s certainly no comfort to the American people who’ll have to pay for this disastrous law through higher taxes, higher premiums, and higher health care costs. Just look at the devastating impact ObamaCare’s tax on health insurance will have on the American people.

In just six months, health insurance companies will be whacked with a tax that will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums. One study shows families’ premiums going up by over $5,000 while individuals will see a $2,150 jump.

What’s more is its impact on job creators. Over the next ten years this tax will impose $102 billion in higher costs on businesses and their employees, diverting money that could be used for higher wages, new hires, better benefits, and investments back into their businesses.

According to the National Federation of Independent Business, this tax could result in 146,000 to 262,000 fewer jobs between now and 2023 - with more than half of those losses falling on the backs of small businesses. We simply cannot sustain that type of hit to jobs in an economy that continues to struggle.

The American people need relief from the skyrocketing health care costs. And, that’s exactly why I joined my friend and colleague Senator John Barrasso in introducing legislation to repeal this tax on job creators and their employees.

The President promised that the health law would lower health care costs and reduce premiums by $2,500. We told him before the law passed that there was no way he could keep this promise. And, here we are today watching ObamaCare unravel as middle-class families pay the price.

We need to end this assault on small businesses and relieve them from this job crushing law by repealing this health insurance tax and ObamaCare in its entirety.

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