The House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight subcommittee plans to hold a hearing April 21 on a change in the rules governing subsidies for retiree prescription benefits programs.
The American Benefits Council, Washington, has been leading an effort to spread the message that the change will force publicly traded employers that continue to offer prescription benefits for retirees to put a charge on their financial statements to reflect expected increases in tax payments.
Congressional put a retiree prescription benefits subsidy in the bill that created the Medicare Part D prescription drug program to keep big companies from shutting down their prescription plans and sending enrollees to sign up for Part D coverage.
Executives such as Samuel Allen, chairman of Deere & Company, Moline, Ill., and Randall Stephenson, chairman of AT&T Inc., Dallas, have written to Congress to express concerns about a move to by the federal government to tax the subsidy.
