Can Congress agree on the Cadillac tax?

Health care is too costly in the US. One reason is that health insurance premiums are fully tax deductible for employers. This distorts the market, causing employers and employees to prefer devoting the next dollar of compensation to healthcare rather than wages. That's fine in any given year but over time it's helped drive up healthcare spending and hold down wages.One of the many things the Affordable Care Act did right was to start to address this issue with the so-called Cadillac Tax, an excise tax on high cost employer plans. Like everything in the ACA it has been attacked and derided by the law's opponents. But many Republican plans have equivalent measures, which would cap the deductibility of health insurance. Either one of these approaches would help by causing employers to work harder to hold down healthcare spending and by generating tax revenue that could be used for other health law goals or for general purposes. The end of tax deductibility only kicks in at a high threshold, which means the impact in the early years is limited and everyone has time to get used to the new rules. I'd like to see Congressional leaders be brave and embrace some form of cap as a bi-partisan consensus move.Alas, the caps are opposed by an array of forces: employers don't want a new tax, labor groups are worried that benefits will be eroded and out-of-pocket costs increased, and the healthcare industry worries about a squeeze on revenue.Without strong leadership in Congress, it seems doubtful that new legislation will be passed. So maybe the best bet is to leave the Obama era Cadillac tax in place, imperfect as it may be.

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By healthcare business consultant David E. Williams, president of Health Business Group.