Bill to repeal health insurance tax hits 218 co-sponsors

Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.) announced Friday that his bill to repeal one of the taxes in President Obama's healthcare reform law has 218 co-sponsors — enough to ensure it would pass the House.

The Republican-led House has voted more than 30 times to repeal or defund all or part of the Affordable Care Act, so Boustany's bill never would have faced much trouble. But it targets a provision that has faced steady, consistent opposition from Republicans as well as the insurance industry.

Boustany's bill would repeal the health law's tax on insurance plans — a policy critics say would raise premiums at a time when millions of new people will be coming into the insurance marketplace.

"There are fundamentals problems with Obamacare with much of it being flawed," Boustany said in a statement. "My bill will stop an $87 billion tax that will raise Americans’ health insurance premiums."

The National Federation of Independent Business also supports the repeal bill, saying the insurance tax will fall squarely on small businesses.

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