Short Term Fix Leads to More Plans Being Hit Earlier and Harder by Tax

The Senate is presently debating a reconciliation package of “fixes” to the health care reform legislation signed into law by President Obama today. Included in that package is a “fix” to the high cost plans or Cadillac tax contained in the new law. The changes have been represented as a “scaling back of the tax.” True, the effective date that the tax begins has been delayed for five years, but beyond the ten-year budget window, the allegedly scaled back version of the tax will actually hit even more plans and generate more tax revenue than the original tax signed into law today.