GOP Senators Re-introduce Bill to Scrap Obamacare Tax

GOP Sens. John Barrasso and Orrin Hatch re-introduced a bill Tuesday that would get rid of the Affordable Care Act's tax on health insurance.

They contend that Obamacare is curbing economic growth, The Hill reports. "Higher insurance costs, fewer jobs, and smaller paychecks is not what President Obama promised when he signed the largest expansion of government into law nearly three years ago, but that’s exactly what’s already happening," Hatch said in a statement.

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), a trade association representing the health insurance industry, voiced support for the bill. "Taxing health insurance makes it more expensive, and that is the opposite of what healthcare reform was supposed to accomplish," AHIP President Karen Ignani said in a statement.

"Families and small businesses simply cannot afford to pay an additional $100 billion sales tax on their health insurance at a time when they are already struggling to keep up with rising medical costs."

The bill came out the same time as a report from the National Federation of Independent Business estimating the tax will erase 146,000 to 262,000 jobs by 2022. The Federation backs the proposal.

Barrasso of Wyoming and Hatch of Utah originally introduced the bill in November 2011.