A House bill to delay or repeal certain parts Obamacare would cost the federal government $51.6 billion over a decade, according to a new government analysis released Tuesday.
The latest report, from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, comes ahead of a meeting House lawmakers have scheduled for Wednesday to discuss the bill, known as the Save American Workers Act.
One portion of the bill that would cost $25.9 billion from 2019 to 2028 is the delay of what is known as the “employer mandate.” It originally was intended to go into effect in 2014 and required companies with 50 or more full-time workers provide health insurance or otherwise face a penalty. The mandate was delayed several times with bipartisan support, but it applied to companies with 100 workers or more beginning in 2015.
Under the Save American Workers Act, employers would not have to pay the penalty if they violated the law from the start of 2015 to the end of 2018.
The bill would also make changes to Obamacare’s definition of a “full-time worker” as someone who is employed for 30 hours a week, moving it up to 40 hours a week. CBO predicts that this change would cost the federal government $9.8 billion from 2019 to 2028.
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Small businesses have called the employer requirements in Obamacare burdensome, arguing that fewer people will be hired or that workers’ hours will be cut.
Within the House bill are other delays to Obamacare, including to the “Cadillac” tax on health insurance plans. If it were delayed to the 2023 date specified in the bill, the government would lose $15.5 billion in revenue.
The Cadillac tax was intended to target higher-cost, more robust health insurance plans through a 40 percent excise tax. The rationalization for the tax was that plans with fewer benefits tend to shift a greater share of healthcare expenses onto employees, causing them to be more judicious about asking doctors whether appointments or tests are necessary and ultimately reducing financial strain on the medical system.
But advocates of repealing the tax have warned that it would also affect middle-income workers, including teachers and nurses, because the cost of health insurance has continued to grow, not just among companies with generous benefits packages. The tax was intended to go into effect in 2018 but was delayed with support from both Democrats and Republicans. It was delayed again to 2022 as part of a spending bill passed earlier this year.
A final measure repealing Obamacare’s 10 percent tax on indoor tanning salons would cost the government $400 million.
