On the recordDecember 9, 2015
I thank the Senator from New Mexico for the question. It is a simple answer. That answer is 1.3 million people--1.3 million Nevadans are affected by this Cadillac tax. There are 1.3 million workers who have employer-sponsored health insurance plans, and they will all get hit by this Cadillac tax. Let me tell you what I am talking about. In this case, we are talking about public employees across the State. We are talking about service industry workers, those who work in Las Vegas on the Strip. They will be impacted by this legislation. We are talking small business owners across the State of Nevada. They all know they are going to get hit by this 40-percent excise tax. Not to be left out, of course, are the retirees, the seniors in the State of Nevada that will also be affected by this particular tax. We are talking about three things: reducing benefits, increasing premiums, and also higher deductibles. Let me repeat the three things that this excise tax does: It reduces benefits, increases premiums, and raises deductibles. These are three things that none of us want to see, not in this Chamber. All these lead to more money being taken out of the pockets of taxpayers and hard-working families. For those who supported this law, this tax was intended to go after high-cost plans provided to the very wealthiest Americans. Clearly, we see in this colloquy back and forth that is not the case.…





