EDITORIAL: Obamacare's executioners: Against the repeal of the Cadillac tax

Dec. 22--Save Obamacare. Protect Obamacare. Build on Obamacare. It's been the consistent Democratic rallying cry for the better part of a decade, and especially since President Trump put the law on his chopping block. The law's future has been further imperiled after a federal appeals court decision striking down the individual mandate.

Now, for short-term political gain, Democrats in Congress are undermining the finances of the Affordable Care Act while neutering one of its few provisions designed to contain costs that have continued to grow and grow and grow. This is myopic hypocrisy right up there with then-Speaker Paul Ryan presiding over an explosion in the federal deficit.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats bowed to their allies in labor and repealed the so-called Cadillac tax, which has already been twice delayed.

The Cadillac tax, a levy on costly insurance plans that often go hand-in-hand with union-negotiated contracts, was to collect $193 billion through 2029 to finance Obamacare subsidies, and more thereafter -- and, more important, give companies a powerful incentive to hold down the costs of insurance plans. It was one of the law's very few provisions to rein in spending, rather than just expand access, and it's more urgent than ever giving still-spiking prices.

A repeal also has a regressive effect, since it's higher-income workers who tend to have gold-plated health-care plans.

The next time Democrats claim to care about containing health-care costs and building a sustainable insurance ecosystem, they will be met with scoffs and eye-rolls. They have only themselves to blame.

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