Hollywood unions don't want taxes on "Cadillac Ins. Plans"

Hollywood Pushes Senate on Health Bill: No to Taxes

Published: Tue, November 10, 2009, 5:11 PM
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The presidents of the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild of America and the Teamsters local are pressing Senate leaders to remove a tax on "Cadillac" insurance plans.

My colleague Dave McNary reports that WGA West president John Wells, WGA East president Michael Winship, SAG president Ken Howard and the Teamsters' Leo Reed sent a letter to Senate leaders asking them to back off the plan, given that it will impact the prized benefits long offered in guilds and unions.

The letter said, "We applaud your efforts to expand affordable health care coverage to more Americans and to reform the health insurance industry. However, we are deeply troubled by the provisions of the bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee that would levy a new tax against so-called 'Cadillac plans.' The individual unions and guilds of the entertainment industry have struggled and sacrificed for decades to negotiate and defend their own Taft-Hartley health insurance plans."