U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently introduced legislation that would roll back an annual fee on health insurance providers in U.S. territories levied under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The Health Insurance Tax is a provision of the ACA that applies to health insurance providers in U.S. territories and is passed onto consumers through higher premiums.
Curbelo and Rubio’s Territory Health Insurance Tax Relief Act would amend the health care law to exempt insurance providers in territories from paying the tax.
“Since the territories do not receive the same benefits that that District of Columbia and the 50 states receive under the Affordable Care Act under several important provisions in the law, this burden is unfair and should be revised,” Curbelo said. “Since residents of the territories are ineligible to use the ACA marketplace to obtain insurance, it’s necessary that we provide relief to those who are incorrectly subjected to this burdensome tax.”
Rubio said that the ACA has done financial harm to the people of Puerto Rico, as well as people of the mainland.
“The liberal technocrats who wrote and passed this disastrous law were blind to the needs of the island and instituted a health insurance tax that raises premiums for millions of consumers,” Rubio said. “It is unfair to Puerto Ricans to have to pay this Obamacare tax and endure higher premiums, only to be excluded from participating in the same health system that the rest of the United States does. This legislation would repeal Obamacare’s costly and unfair tax on Puerto Rico and help begin the process of revitalizing the health care system on the island.”