The Affordable Care Act’s Health Insurance Tax (HIT) on insurance providers would be eliminated under bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD).
Noem and U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) introduced the Jobs and Premium Protection Act, H.R. 246, to roll back a tax that health insurers are required to pay on services provided to individuals, families and plan beneficiaries.
“Many small businesses in South Dakota have faced a stunning reality since the passage of Obamacare: they can’t really afford to pay for the expensive mandated insurance, but they also can’t afford the HIT if they don’t provide insurance,” Noem said. “Essentially, they’re taxed if they do and taxed if they don’t.”
As a result, Noem said, many employers have been forced to either cut workers’ hours or limit the growth of small businesses.
“The Jobs and Premium Protection Act would open new economic opportunities from South Dakota to Arizona while giving thousands of families the peace of mind that their financial independence won’t be jeopardized because of this regressive tax,” she said.
Eliminating HIT could save families as much as $400 per year on health care premium costs that are passed onto consumers as a result of HIT, the Joint Committee on Taxation reports.
“Arizonans continue to struggle with increasing health care costs,” Sinema said. “Eliminating the tax is a bipartisan, commonsense fix that lowers out of pocket costs for hardworking Arizonans.”
HIT could cost the country as many as 286,000 jobs by 2023, with 57 percent of those jobs coming from small businesses, the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation reports.