The non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) analyzed the impact of the Senate Finance Committee’s proposed 40 percent excise tax on high-cost health care benefits on families and individuals.

The analysis, requested by Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut, confirms that costs are expected to be passed along to consumers through higher health coverage cost. These plans are often referred to as "Cadillac" plans in the media.

This tax would hurt many working families and retirees, including some membes of the USW. Please write or call your member of Congress and ask them to reject taxing health insurance benefits and to sign on to a letter penned by Rep. Courtney that is co-signed by some 182 fellow members of Congress. Visit our Health Insurance Reform Tool Kit for more information and letter writing tips.

The review of the excise tax proposal by the JCT shows:

• The total number of individual and family plans impacted by the excise tax grows from 19% to 30% and 14% and 31% respectively between 2013 and 2019 -- many of them USW members and retirees.
• The total number of family plans affected by the excise tax grows from 12.7 million to 31 million between 2013 and 2019.
• The average tax increase for all households grows from $918 to $1,318 between 2013 and 2019.
  For the middleclass income brackets, the number of households hit by the tax doubles, and in some income brackets nearly triples, by 2019.

Click here for the entire JCT analysis.

Again, please call and/or e-mail your members of Congress and ask them to sign on to Rep. Joe Courtney's letter opposing the proposed excise tax. If your member already has signed, thank them.

Click here for help finding your members of Congress. Here are some members who haven't signed who need to hear from you:

Rep. Brian Baird
Rep. Howard Berman
Rep. Marion Berry
Rep. Bobby Bright
Rep. G.K. Butterfield
Rep. Christopher P. Carney
Rep. Kathy Castor
Rep. Jim Costa
Rep. Susan Davis
Rep. Diana DeGette
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
Rep. Charles Gonzalez
Rep. Alan Grayson
Rep. Jane Harman
Rep. Ruben Hinojosa
Rep. Jay Inslee
Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas
Rep. Edward Markey
Rep. Jerry McNerney
Rep. Rick Larsen
Rep. Jim Moran
Rep. Richard Neal
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr.
Rep. Tom Price
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger
Rep. Ike Skelton
Rep. Vic Snyder
Rep. Niki Tsongas
Rep. Melvin Watt