Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lawmakers Push Bills To Repeal 'Cadillac,' Medical Device Taxes
A mix of business groups and labor unions are pushing to tee up the next big Obamacare fight: killing its so-called Cadillac tax. It is, they say, the type of Obamacare 鈥渇ix鈥 that Republicans and Democrats can agree on 鈥 notwithstanding the problem of filling an $87 billion budget hole that nixing the levy would produce. Many expect it to be the next protracted battle over Obamacare .... At issue is a 40 percent excise tax on the health benefits companies provide their workers above a certain threshold. In 2018, the tax will hit insurance and related perks valued at more than $10,200 for singles and $27,500 for families. (Faler, 4/6)
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton is planning to meet with members of the state's medical community to highlight a bill aimed at rolling back a tax aimed at medical device makers. The Massachusetts Democrat is one of more than 270 co-sponsors of the bipartisan Protect Medical Innovation Act. (4/5)
As the April 15 tax deadline nears, people who got help paying for health insurance under President Barack Obama's law are seeing the direct effect on their refunds 鈥 hundreds of dollars, for better or worse. The law offers tax credits so people without access to job-based health insurance can buy private coverage. Because these subsidies are tied to income, consumers must accurately estimate what they will make for the coming year. That's been a challenge for millions of people. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/5)
ObamaCare customers who received the wrong tax form from the federal government this spring will not face penalties if they miss the April 15 deadline, officials announced Friday. Anyone who has not yet been sent corrected tax forms and is 鈥渦nable to file an accurate tax return鈥 now has until Oct. 15 to file 鈥 as long as they request an extension. The government did not say how many people will be given extra time, though officials said in late March that 80,000 people were still waiting on their corrected tax forms. (Ferris, 4/3)
The Treasury Department said Friday that hundreds of thousands of ObamaCare customers who received incorrect tax forms earlier this year will not face penalties for filing after April 15. (4/6)
And in Tennessee,聽an uninsured woman with cancer cannot afford聽medical care because the聽state chose聽not to expand Medicaid -
Tracy Foster's bladder is nearly bulging out of her body. But the 40-year-old divorced mother of two has no insurance and no money to treat what she believes is recurrent bladder cancer, so she spends much of her time in a recliner, with a heating pad over her swollen abdomen. ... If Foster lived in nearby Kentucky, she wouldn't be facing this problem. There, she'd be eligible for expanded Medicaid, which covers residents earning less than 138% of the federal poverty level. But Tennessee chose not to expand its Medicaid program as called for under the Affordable Care Act, and Foster doesn't qualify for her home state's traditional Medicaid program even though she has no income. (Ungar, 4/3)
