For Immediate Release
Washington, DC – The following statement should be attributed to Annette Guarisco Fildes, president and CEO of The ERISA Industry Committee:
“The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) strongly supports Sen. Heller’s and Sen. Heinrich’s bill to eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s 40 percent excise tax on health coverage. This tax will have nothing but negative effects on America’s companies and their workers at a time when our country should instead be supporting job growth and support for the middle class.
As the only national trade association advocating solely for the employee benefit and compensation interests of America’s largest employers, this bill is critically important to ERIC members as it would relieve them and other large employers of a very significant financial and administrative burden.
The effect of the 40 percent excise tax goes beyond employers; it could be detrimental to the health of millions of employees and their families if employers are forced to curtail their health benefits in order to avoid the tax. The addition of the tax on top of the rising costs of health care would make it very difficult for ERIC members to continue to offer high-quality, cost-efficient health care benefits.
The effect the tax will have on the American worker and the administrative complexity and challenges placed on employers to compute it are unprecedented. Moreover, the tax does nothing to reach its ostensible goal, which is to bring down health costs in this country. For these reasons ERIC and its members stand firmly behind the repeal of the 40 percent excise tax.”