Congress Needs to Repeal the O-Care HIT Tax - STAT

This Health Income Tax from the Affordable Care Act will start to "hit" small businesses and the middle class next month, if Congress doesn't act quickly. This should be a no-brainer.

To be sure, the replace part of "repeal and replace" is tricky. There can be no doubt, however, that the HIT tax needs to be repealed immediately, even if Obamacare's replacement is still being formulated.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been following this issue for sometime:

The Obamacare Health Insurance Tax (HIT) is Back! 

Without immediate repeal, the Obamacare health insurance tax will start hitting premiums again as early as February.  The reason is simple: As small businesses and consumers begin enrolling in health insurance coverage for 2018, they will begin paying premiums which include this tax.  Insurance policies that provide coverage into calendar year 2018 will factor this tax into premiums.  The longer Congress waits, the more Americans will pay this tax.

Additional Obamacare Taxes – like the Medical Device and the Cadillac Tax – will be next to further increase health care costs.

The Obamacare Health Insurance Tax Drives up Premiums.
Unfairly, small businesses, seniors, and consumers are the ones that pay for this health insurance tax.  According to past analysis by former Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Holtz-Eakin, the average family will pay an additional $5,000 over 10 years in extra premiums because of the health insurance tax. Further, other past analysis quantified that 84 percent of the premium tax burden for the four year period from 2014-2018 would be borne by those earning less than $100,000 per year and more than 50 percent of the tax burden would be borne by those earning less than $50,000 per year.

Voters are Demanding Change.
Many Members of Congress campaigned on making health care coverage more affordable. Now they can do something about it.