Accord Reached on Insurance Tax for Costly Plans

ROBERT PEAR and STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: January 14, 2010
WASHINGTON — The White House, Congressional leaders and labor unions said Thursday that they had reached agreement on a proposal to tax high-cost health insurance policies, resolving one of the major differences between the House and the Senate over far-reaching health legislation.
[...]
In addition, they said, health plans covering state and local government employees and collectively bargained health plans would be exempt from the tax until 2018. This transition period addresses the concerns of schoolteachers and other public employees who have denounced the tax.

Read full story at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/health/policy/15health.html?src=twt&twt=nytimes