Consumers have a message for Washington: Do not tax our health plans.
Employees consider their employer-provided or subsidized healthcare almost as valuable as their earned wages, according to a new study conducted by America's Health Insurance Plans, a major health insurance industry group.
In the study, 59% of respondents said they oppose taxing employee health benefits, while 72% answered that they are "satisfied" with their employer-provided health plans. The survey was conducted online with 1,000 U.S. employed adults with employer-provided health coverage older than 18 years old, between Jan. 25 and Jan. 26, weighted to demographics of the U.S. working population.
The study comes weeks after congressional Republicans muscled a tax cut through to the president's desk without any provisions to tax employer-based health plans.
Experts speaking on a panel to discuss the study's findings agreed that lawmakers understood that taxing employer-based plans would be unpopular among constituents.
"It would be very, very unpopular to have a tax on healthcare plans," Donald Nickles, a former Republican senator from Oklahoma, said. "That's one of the reasons the House and Senate said they're not going to go there. Those who would do that would do so at a great political risk."
And, Nickles said, measures to de-tax health insurance that were tacked on to a continuing government funding resolution also reflected the findings of the study.
The study also showed that 58% of respondents said the affordability of their plans would decline if employee health benefits were taxed.
Cigna Corp. President and CEO David Cordani said in prepared remarks that hospitals, physician partners and other providers rely on the financial stability that employer-sponsored coverage provides.
"Without a vibrant employer-sponsored marketplace, the overall healthcare delivery system would not be able to deliver the services it is delivering today for Medicare, Medicaid ... and other subsets of the population." Cordani said.
