Boustany and Graves to Host Stop the HIT Roundtable Discussion

<p>(<location value="LU/us.la.laette" idsrc="xmltag.org">Lafayette, LA</location>) - Congressman <person>Charles W. Boustany</person>, Jr., M.D., (R-<location value="LS/us.la" idsrc="xmltag.org">South Louisiana</location>) and Congressman <person>Garret Graves</person> (R- <location value="LS/us.la" idsrc="xmltag.org">South Louisiana</location>) will host a Roundtable Discussion on Boustany's legislation, the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) Repeal Act, in <location value="LU/us.la.batrge" idsrc="xmltag.org">Baton Rouge</location> on <chron>Friday, May 8</chron>. Boustany introducedthe bill on <chron>February 12</chron>. On <chron>April 22</chron>, Boustany announcedthe bill had received majority support in the <org>House of Representatives</org>.</p><p>WHO: Congressman <person>Charles W. Boustany</person>, Jr., MD, Congressman <person>Garret Graves</person>, <person>Dawn Starns</person> (NFIB Louisiana), Ted Firnsburg (School Aids), <person>Clay Pinson</person> (Massengale), <person>Pat Felder</person> (Felder Collision Parts), <person>John Overton</person> (Turnkey Solutions), <person>Renee Amar</person> (<org>LA Association of Business and Industry</org>), <person>Michelle Shirley</person> (<org>LA Homebuilders Association</org>), <person>John Walters</person> (<org>Association of Builders and Contractors</org>), <person>Todd Waguespack</person> (<org>Level Homes</org>)</p><p>WHAT: Stop the HIT Roundtable Discussion</p><p>WHEN: <chron>Friday, May 8, 2015</chron>, <chron>10:00 - 11:00 am</chron></p><p>WHERE: <location>Level Construction Board Room</location>, <location>450 Main St.</location>, <location value="LU/us.la.batrge" idsrc="xmltag.org">Baton Rouge, LA</location> 70801</p><p>The HIT is a provision included within ObamaCare that is a direct tax on health insurance providers for the services they provide to individuals, families, and other beneficiaries. According to the nonpartisan <org value="ACORN:1148983018" idsrc="xmltag.org">Congressional Budget Office</org> (CBO), this tax is passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs.</p><p>The <org>Joint Committee on Taxation</org> (JCT) estimates that eliminating this tax by 2016 could save families <money>$350</money> to <money>$400</money> in premium costs. Conversely, a study by economist <person>Douglas Holtz-Eakin</person> shows that over 10 years, the HIT could increase the average family premium by <money>$5,000</money>.</p><p>According to the <org>National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation</org>, the HIT will cost between 152,000 and 286,000 lost jobs by 2023, with 57% of those lost jobs represented in small businesses, and between <money>$20 billion</money> and <money>$33 billion</money> in lost economic activity.</p><p>The cost of the tax in 2014, the first year of its implementation, was <money>$8 billion</money> - but that number will climb to <money>$14.3 billion</money> by 2018. JCT estimates that the cost of the tax will reach <money>$100 billion</money> over the next decade.</p><p>Read this original document at: <a href="http://boustany.house.gov/114th-congress/boustany-and-graves-to-host-stop-the-hit-roundtable-discussion/">http://boustany.house.gov/114th-congress/boustany-and-graves-to-host-stop-the-hit-roundtable-discussion/</a></p>