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New health insurance tax in New York proposed by Gov. Cuomo

By IFAwebnews Staff

Posted: January 23, 2015



A new tax on health insurance premiums proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been criticized by insurers as the latest illustration of state and federal government increasing health care costs for businesses and individuals.

The tax would average less than $25 on health insurance premiums. Cuomo included it in his 2015-16 executive budget presented recently, saying the money would be used to help pay to operate the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace, called an exchange.

Bob Hinckley, chief strategy officer for CDPHP, the second-largest health insurer in the Albany region, wrote in an email to the Albany Business Journal that government is improving access to health care while doing little to rein in rising cost.

“Employers and consumers cannot continue to shoulder the burden of rising health care costs due to government taxes, provider consolidations, and specialty pharmaceuticals,” Hinckley wrote, as reported by ABR.

Debate over health insurance premium pricing for 2015 and beyond threatens thousands of jobs and billions of dollars tied to insurers in New York. Many of them have already been reporting fiscal losses and job cuts tied to upheaval under the Affordable Care Act, including millions of dollars worth of new fees, penalties and other regulatory changes.

Paul Macielak, president and CEO of the New York Health Plan Association, criticized the governor for proposing a tax after touting state regulators decision to slash 2015 health insurance premium rates, despite warnings from insurers that it could prompt job cuts and closures in the industry.

“If affordable health coverage is the goal here in New York, the new ‘exchange tax’ should be dropped and the existing state taxes on health insurance, which today total more than $5 billion and amount to five percent of premium, be reduced,” Macielak wrote in an email, as reported by ABR.

Read the full story at the Albany Business Review: New health insurance tax proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo – Albany Business Review.


http://ifawebnews.com/2015/01/23/new-health-insurance-tax-in-new-york-proposed-by-gov-cuomo/