ARA Calls for Repeal of Health Insurance Tax

The American Rental Association (ARA) applauded the action of a bipartisan group of members of Congress to highlight the six-month countdown to repeal a tax that will have a damaging effect on small businesses in the equipment rental industry and beyond.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) and Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) joined small business owners from across the country and members of the Stop the HIT Coalition for a press conference to urge repeal of the health insurance tax (HIT) within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

The Stop the HIT Coalition is a broad-based group representing the nation’s small business owners, their employees and the self-employed that advocates for the repeal of the HIT. ARA is a Stop the HIT Coalition member.

“The HIT puts up roadblocks to small business growth and job creation, and will ultimately have a negative effect on hardworking families,” says John McClelland, ARA VP of government affairs. “With six months left until this tax goes into effect in 2014, it is encouraging to see our bipartisan leaders in Congress raise the urgency around the need to fix this problem before it is too late.”

Billed as a fee on insurance companies that sell policies on the fully insured market, the Congressional Budget Office has said consumers can expect to see the cost of the health insurance tax passed on in the form of higher health insurance premiums. One estimate predicts the HIT, which takes effect next year, will cost the average family $500 a year.

Small businesses would be acutely affected by the HIT, as 88 percent purchase health insurance policies that would be subject to the tax.

The four sponsors of bipartisan legislation to repeal the HIT participated in the event to draw awareness to the impending implementation of the damaging tax. The two companion bills – S. 603 and H.R. 763 – together have more than 240 bipartisan cosponsors.