Republican senators said it’s unclear whether their chamber will repeal all of the taxes imposed under Obamacare as they set aside the health care bill passed by the House and prepare to write their own from scratch, Bloomberg reported yesterday. “That’s hard to say right now. We just have to see,” said Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), whose panel oversees health care and tax policy. “It’s going to be negotiated.” The uncertainty comes despite what Hatch said on the floor of the Senate in February, when he called repealing the Obamacare taxes essential, labeling them “harmful to the economy.” Hatch and other GOP senators are signaling they’re going to move slowly as they consider the case for and against repealing the health-care taxes. Some of the Republican senators say they’re wary of the loss of revenue that would result if the Obamacare taxes were eliminated, and how that could jeopardize the prospects of helping the uninsured obtain coverage. The House narrowly passed legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act, eliminating taxes that affect insurers, medical device makers and individuals earning more than $200,000 a year who face a 3.8 percent tax on investment income. There’s also a 0.9 percent Medicare surcharge for top earners. The Congressional Budget Office estimated on March 23 that the revenue lost from repealing the taxes would total $999 billion over a decade. Senators who are working on crafting a health care bill met Tuesday to discuss the way forward.
