Northwest labor press., April 02, 2010, Page 3, Image 3

April 2, 2010:NWLP
3/29/10
5:32 PM
Page 3
...Congress passes historic health care reform bill
(From Page 1)
now, most low-income adults without
dependent children can’t get into Med-
icaid.]
Existing employer-sponsored insur-
ance plans will remain essentially the
same, except that they will be required
to extend dependent coverage to age 26.
Small employers with up to 100 em-
ployees will be able to purchase cover-
age for employees on separate state-
level exchanges beginning in 2014.
Starting immediately, small employers
with up to 25 employees (and less than
$50,000 average wages) can get a tax
credit for up to 35 percent of the em-
ployer’s contribution to health insur-
ance premiums, if the employer is pay-
ing at least half the cost; in 2014 and
2015, small businesses that buy em-
ployee coverage through the exchange
can get a tax credit for up to 50 percent
of their contribution if they’re paying at
least 50 percent of the premium.
Starting 2014, large employers with
more than 50 workers will pay a
penalty (up to $2,000 per employee) if
at least one employee gets a subsidy on
the exchange.
From 2010 through the end of 2013,
employers that provide health insur-
ance coverage to retirees over age 55
will be eligible to take part in a reinsur-
ance program, which will reimburse
them for 80 percent of retiree claims
between $15,000 and $90,000.
Starting 2014, insurers will face re-
strictions on practices such as refusing
to insure individuals with pre-existing
conditions, terminating policies when
individuals get sick, or imposing an-
nual or lifetime limits on coverage.
Steelworkers in McMinnville
give up raise to extend contract
McMINNVILLE — In what may be
seen as a sign of the times, Steelworkers
in McMinnville voted March 22 to give
up a scheduled pay raise in order to ex-
tend their union contract by one year.
Joe Munger, president of United
Steelworkers (USW) Local 8378, said
it was the union’s idea to go to manage-
ment of Cascade Steel Rolling Mills
with the proposal. The 3.5 percent raise
was to take effect April 1, and the con-
tract was scheduled to expire April 1,
2011.
Munger said the union has little ex-
pectation the economy will have recov-
ered by then, and it would be a bad time
to be bargaining a new contract: 120
members have been laid off since De-
cember 2008, and the plant’s workforce
is down to 280.
Cascade Steel Rolling Mills melts
scrap metal to produce rebar and other
products used in construction. If it’s
running, it means there’s demand for
construction materials. Munger pays at-
tention to the construction market, and
keeps an eye on housing starts, scrap
and finished product prices to see if
there’s hope on the horizon. Right now
prospects continue to look pretty bleak.
Extending the contract to April 1,
2012, means members will have the se-
curity of employer-paid full-family
health insurance, a defined benefit pen-
sion plan, and other union benefits at
current levels. Wages at the plant aver-
age $20 an hour.
Young adults will be allowed to stay on
their parents’ plans through age 26, but
only if they are not offered health cov-
erage at their place of work. At any
given benefit level, premiums may vary
by no more than 3-to-1 for age, and
1.5-to-1 for tobacco use.
New taxes and fees will be levied on
insurance companies, pharmaceutical
manufacturers, medical devices, indoor
tanning salons, and capital gains in-
come:
• The pharmaceutical manufacturing
industry will pay annual fees, appor-
tioned by market share, totaling $2.5
billion in 2011, rising to $4.1 billion in
2018, and then dropping to $2.8 billion
in 2019.
• The health insurance sector will
pay annual fees, apportioned by mar-
ket share, totaling $8 billion in 2014,
rising to $14.3 billion in 2018, and in-
creasing after that at the rate of pre-
mium growth. Non-profit insurers will
pay at a lower rate.
• Starting 2013, a sales tax of 2.3
percent will be levied on medical de-
vices.
• Starting July 1, 2010, a sales tax of
10 percent will be levied on indoor tan-
ning services.
• For the first time, a 3.8 percent
Medicare tax will be levied on capital
gains income, not just wage income.
The law also limits the tax-de-
ductibility of health insurance execu-
tive compensation — to $500,000 per
individual, retroactive to tax year 2009.
Insurers will also pay an excise tax
of 40 percent on the value of employer-
sponsored health plans that exceeds
$10,200 for individual coverage and
$27,500 for family coverage.
The new law contains hundreds of
other elements, including provisions
for funding community health clinics,
subsidizing the creation of non-profit
consumer-run health insurance co-ops,
investing in medical research and train-
ing of health professionals, reducing
the “donut hole” in Medicare’s pre-
scription drug coverage, reducing sub-
sidies to the privatized Medicare Ad-
vantage program, and making
numerous other changes to Medicare.
The full text of the law is available
online at thomas.loc.gov.
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APRIL 2, 2010
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