Principally, if I understand it, it taxes benefits such has HSAs and flexible spending accounts
It's been a long time since my head was fully into PPACA so I may be missing something. But what does that have to do with Cadillac tax?
<i If you have a union member with a $30,000 family plan there is a good chance a lot of is made up by stuff that doesn't really contribute to the cost of health care.>
Exactly.
my guess is that the powerful employees will continue to be just as powerful and simply demand that employers suck it up and pay for the whole mess.
I would expect them to back off the extra $3K in the health package, which would now cost $4.2K and, instead, shoot for $3.5K in other benefits.
Of course, there are hedge fund managers who have the $50,000 plans and they'll just say, "Whatever."
I would not be surprised, but then that's a small cohort. In any event, taking tax money from those guys doesn't offend me. Seems like found money to me.
As to the number of employees, just guessing, maybe 12-15%. So, that's significant imo.
Tim posted some numbers yesterday. We don't know why so many would be affected. Are the benefits really worth that much? Maybe the numbers are large not because the packages contain important benefits but because so many companies are inept at negotiating good rates when the contract with insurance companies. Or because the packages are like some states regulations that insist on including hot rocks and acupuncture.
My question remains--what could possibly be in those plans to cost that much? I can't imagine why any package would reasonably cost 50% more than my excellent one. Without that info, I can't judge whether there's anything real being lost here. |
