Washington, DC - This morning, Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) joined Reps. Joe Courtney, Sander Levin, Pete Stark, Mazie Hirono, Shelley Berkley and Sheila Jackson-Lee at a press conference to unveil a letter signed by 157 members of the House Democratic Caucus to Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposing a Senate Finance Committee proposal to tax so-called "high-cost" health care benefit plans.

"In these challenging economic times, our middle-class families cannot be asked to carry the burden of extra taxes or higher premiums, while large insurance companies continue to make record profits," Rep. Sutton said.  "Members of the labor community, the drivers of Ohio's economy, have spent decades negotiating for fair health care benefits. These individuals have often traded salary or wage increases to secure strong health benefits. The goal of reform is to reduce health care costs for all Americans, and the proposed excise tax will only add to families' economic burdens."

As proposed in the amended Senate Finance Committee bill, a 40 percent excise tax would be imposed on employer-provided health plans with values more than $8,000 for a single person and $21,000 for a family.  For people in high-risk jobs and retirees over the age of 55, the thresholds were increased to $9,850 for single individuals and $26,000 for families.  The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the tax, as originally proposed, would hit approximately 15 percent of all employer-provided plans in its initial year.  By the seventh year, it would hit nearly 40 percent of plans.

The tax would be levied on the amount of the plan that exceeds the threshold levels (i.e. if a family's plan is worth $28,000, $7000 would be subject to the tax).  The threshold values would increase at a rate of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) plus one percent. 

Click here to download letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

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Current Cosigners (157): Abercrombie, Ackerman, Arcuri, Baca, Baldwin, Berkley, Bishop (GA), Bishop (NY), Blumenauer, Boccieri, Boren, Boswell, Boucher, Brady (PA), Braley, Brown (FL), Capps, Capuano, Carnahan, Carson, Christensen, Chu, Clarke, Clay, Cleaver, Cohen, Conyers, Costello, Courtney, Crowley, Cummings, Davis (IL), Davis (TN), DeFazio, Delahunt, Doggett, Doyle, Driehaus, Edwards (MD), Ellison, Ellsworth, Engel, Fattah, Filner, Foster, Frank, Fudge, Green (Al), Green (Gene), Grijalva, Gutierrez, Hall (NY), Halvorson, Hare, Hastings (FL), Heinrich, Higgins, Himes, Hinchey, Hirono, Hodes, Holden, Holt, Honda, Israel, Jackson (IL), Jackson-Lee, Johnson (TX), Johnson (GA), Kagen, Kaptur, Kennedy, Kildee, Kilpatrick, Kilroy, Kucinich, Langevin, Lee (CA), Levin, Lewis (GA), Lipinski, Loebsack, Lowey, Lujan, Lynch, Maffei, Maloney, Massa, McCarthy (NY), McCollum, McDermott, McGovern, McMahon, Meek, Meeks, Michaud, Miller (NC), Mollohan, Moore (WI), Murphy (CT), Murphy (NY), Murtha, Nadler, Napolitano, Oberstar, Olver, Ortiz, Pascrell, Pastor, Payne, Perriello, Pingree, Quigley, Rahall, Reyes, Richardson, Ross, Rothman, Royal-Allard, Rush, Ryan (OH), Sanchez (Linda), Sanchez (Loretta), Sarbanes, Schakowsky, Schauer, Schrader, Schwartz, Scott (GA), Serrano, Sestak, Shea-Porter, Sherman, Shuler, Sires, Space, Speier, Stark, Stupak, Sutton, Thompson (MS), Tierney, Titus, Tonko, Towns, Velazquez, Visclosky, Walz, Waters, Watson, Weiner, Welch, Wexler, Wilson (OH), Woolsey, Wu, Yarmuth