Brothers and Sisters,

With a health care reform deal announced loudly in the media between "labor," the administration and Congress on changes to the excise tax provision, I want to provide you a new update today that outlines some of the key elements of that deal and what we know about the potential impact they will have on each and every one of you.

From Day One, we forcefully argued that the excise tax was bad policy and bad politics and that it had no place in any health care reform bill. Not once did we waver from that argument.

Our message was heard and we believe had a significant impact on what ultimately came out of the negotiations between representatives of the labor movement, the administration and Congress.

We believe we can say with confidence that our constant and consistent message resulted in significant changes to the excise tax provision of the reform bill that the House and Senate now must finish debate on and send to the president.

I don't want to overstate this, but suffice it to say that our hard opposition to the excise tax convinced negotiators to agree to new provisions that, while they fall short of our goal of eliminating the excise tax, these changes do effectively eliminate the burden of additional taxes that would have fallen on our members had the tax remained unaltered.

Based on the initial information we have received from the AFL-CIO on the changes to the excise tax provision, we know that:

• Every health plan covering our members is exempt from the tax until 2018, based on new provisions that collectively bargained health benefits will be exempt from the tax until 2018, as would the benefits of all state and local municipal worker plans even if not collectively bargained;
• The threshold for the tax to kick in on family plans has been raised from $23,000 to $24,000 for all workers, and from $26,000 to $27,000 for our members;
• The cost of dental and vision coverage will be excluded from the cost of the plans when determining if they rise above the threshold beginning in 2015;
• Each year after 2013, the $27,000 threshold for our members will increase by the CPI + 1 percent and will rise even more in high cost states;
• Further, if health care costs rise faster than expected prior to 2013, the initial thresholds will also be increased, as well.

While there's significantly more to the deal than just these initial bullets, and we are going to do a full and complete analysis over the coming days, we have not been able to identify a single IAFF member's health care plan that would or will be subject to the excise tax based on these new provisions scheduled to take effect in 2018.

We know there's a lot more to go in the political process before this bill is finally approved by both houses of Congress and signed by the President, but we are pleased that our efforts to protect our members from a severe economic penalty appear to have made a significant impact on what we are told will be in the final legislation.

We will update all of you as more details of the bill emerge.

Fraternally,

Harold A. Schaitberger
General President

November 5  Is Day of Action on Health Care Reform 

November 3, 2009 [Updated November 5] – The IAFF is joining the AFL-CIO for a National Week of Action on health care reform. The activities kick off November 5 with an ad campaign focusing on finding a fair way to pay for health care reform. The ads will appear in Politico, Roll Call, The Hill and The Washington Post and highlight the U.S. House health care bill as a model for reform.

This excise tax, which is being considered by the U.S. Senate, would assess a tax on high-value insurance plans – a tax that would hit many IAFF members' plans that cost more because of the dangers associated with the job and/or because they live in an area where insurance traditionally is more costly, not necessarily because they offer more generous benefits.

We believe the effect of the tax would be that either your employer would pass the cost of the tax on to you or they would attempt to cut your benefits to avoid the tax. Either way, our members would be negatively affected by the excise tax.

Almost without exception, our members are already being asked to pay more for health care benefits. We are working to ensure that this excise tax will not be enacted when a final health care bill is signed by President Obama.

The IAFF is joining the AFL-CIO and other labor unions in a nationwide "Day of Action" campaign November 5 against an excise tax. The goal is to mobilize union members across the nation to generate thousands of phone calls, faxes and emails to members of Congress until real health care reform for workers is enacted.

The IAFF is urging its members to contact their senators on November 5 and tell them not to finance health care reform on the backs of workers and to leave this excise tax out of the health care reform bill. Call Congress today at 1-877-323-5246 or (202) 224-3121.

Click here for more information about the Day of Action.