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Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, makes his way to a meeting in the Speaker’s office in the Capitol on December 6, 2017.
A group of Republican members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday introduced several bills that they said will provide “relief” from Obamacare-related taxes.
The slate of legislation rolled out by members of the House Ways and Means Committee could end up being attached, in some form or another, to the year-end spending package that Congress is tackling.
The set of bills is not tied to the major tax bill pending in Congress, which, among other things, would repeal the Obamacare rule requiring most Americans to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty.
The bills introduced Tuesday include a five-year waiver of the medical device tax, a two-year waiver for the tax on over-the-counter medications and a delay of the health insurance tax, along with relief from that tax if insurers give customers a premium rebate.
Another bill would provide three years of retroactive relief from the mandate requiring large employers to offer affordable health coverage to workers or pay a fine.
That bill also would offer one year of prospective relief from the so-called Cadillac tax, an excise tax on high-value health plans.
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas., chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said, “Obamacare’s failures are continuing to hurt families across the country – and allowing burdensome health care taxes to continue or go back into effect would make these problems even more severe.”
“As we continue working toward a patient-centered health care system, Ways and Means Republicans are taking action to provide targeted relief from taxes that stand in the way of affordable health care, innovative treatments, access to medications, more jobs, and bigger paychecks for hardworking Americans,” Brady said.
