WASHINGTON — The Senate Finance Committee has released a paper that discusses several possible strategies for taxing group health coverage.
The paper also includes shorter sections discussing possible changes to the rules governing health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts and health reimbursement arrangements.
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on health finance policy options Wednesday.
The government has no choice but to change the U.S. health care and health financing systems, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., says in a statement about the financing options paper.
“Without health care reform, health care spending will reach $4.4 trillion by 2018,” Baucus says.
The authors of the paper discuss strategies for cutting health care costs, imposing “lifestyle-related revenue raisers,” and changing the exclusion for employer-provided health coverage.