Dive Brief:

• The Cadillac Tax may be delayed two years thanks to the new $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that reached a tentative accord last night in the House of Representatives, the New York Times reports.
• Support to delay the tax existed on both sides of the aisle, with both labor unions and Republicans saying it could lead to reductions in benefits and an increase in “harmful health-related taxes,” the Times said.
• White House officials have “signaled” that the two-year extension would not draw a veto threat, said U.S. News and World Report. The bill will go to vote this week, most likely on Friday due to a missed deadline in drafting the legislation, the Times says.

Dive Insight:

Employers have widely opposed the tax and sought either its repeal or delay. If the bill is successfully voted in at the end of this week, the Cadillac Tax may not go into effect until at least 2020.

Both Republicans and Democrats have “reservations” about the excise tax, which impose a 40% tax on healthcare plans whose value is more than $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for a family.

“We have a real opportunity to significantly reduce Obamacare’s tax burdens,” Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah and chairman of the Finance Committee, told the Times.