There is a wolf in sheep’s clothing in the Senate’s recently approved health care reform package.

And if nothing is done, the wolf is going to take a financial bite out of many middle-class workers who, like UUP members, happen to have solid health coverage.

The Senate’s bill, which passed with so much fanfare on Christmas Eve, contains a 40 percent excise tax on health plans worth more than $8,500 yearly for individuals and $23,000 annually for families. For retirees ages 55 and older, the bill would tax individual plans worth more than $9,850 and family plans worth more than $26,000.

If you haven’t heard about this so-called Cadillac tax, you will, especially it if it becomes part of President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill. You’ll feel it through the tax, or more likely, through the ratcheting down of the quality of health coverage by employers to avoid paying the tax.

If this does become part of the federal health care package, you’ll end up paying higher out-of-pocket costs for co-payments for medical care. And don’t be surprised if quality dental and vision care coverage, as well as mental health and other higher-end policy benefits, become things of the past as employers seek to dodge the tax.

We should be alarmed because according to recent reports in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and other outlets, even President Obama has started pushing for the tax as a well-meaning compromise to bring the House and Senate bills in line. Millions of middle-class insurance policyholders would be affected by such a tax. Such a concession is giving away far too much for the sake of expediency.

The Cadillac tax is unacceptable and must be done away with.

The tax would take effect in 2013. Steadily rising health care costs would cause more and more plans—including health plans offered by many unions—to fall under the tax each year, according to information from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

The Congressional Budget Office projects that by 2016 the tax would be imposed on more than 19 percent of all U.S. workers with employer-provided health coverage—or roughly 31 million people. By 2019, as many as 27 percent of health plans would be affected, according to Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation.

As more and more health plans are swept over the tax threshold, more and more middle-class Americans could see their health care benefits diminish. And that could mean higher out-of-pocket medical costs for a majority of Americans, according to AFT data.

Tax proponents claim it would raise more than $150 billion in revenue over 10 years and significantly reduce the amount spent on health care—which they believe would drive down health care spending because higher out-of-pocket health costs could cause workers to think twice before going to the doctor. How’s that for a “savings” plan?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) say otherwise. According to CMS, the Senate tax benefits would lower national health costs by a paltry 0.3 percent in 2019. Higher out-of-pocket co-pays may also cause some consumers to not seek necessary treatment, which could lead to higher health costs down the road.

Again, who reaps the “savings?”

So let me make this simple: the Cadillac tax would force the middle-class to pay more for their employer-provided health insurance or cause them to lose health benefits—benefits won by many unions during hard-fought negotiations that, in some cases, led to giving up wage increases and making other concessions.

This isn’t fair and it isn’t right. Cutting workers’ health benefits is a cut, no matter how you slice it.

The state is also a loser under the Senate’s health care bill. New York would have to shoulder more in Medicaid costs under the Senate’s plan, which would result in an annual budget hit of nearly $1 billion.

Overall, the U.S. House of Representatives has a much better way of handling health care reform. The House’s bill calls for a 5.4 percent surtax on incomes above $500,000 for individuals and over $1 million for those who file taxes jointly. The surtax would take effect Jan.1, 2011.

There are a few things that are certain in this life: death, taxes, and the annual income growth of the rich. Since 2001, federal tax cuts have disproportionately benefitted the richest 5 percent of Americans thanks to the Bush tax cuts. The wealthy should be made to hand over some of their tax gains instead of having a health benefits tax slapped on the middle class.

I’ve said my piece. Now it’s time to do your part. We need to you contact your Congressional reps and tell them in no uncertain terms that the Cadillac tax has got to go. Visit the UUP Web site for more information.

The time has come for health care reform. But let’s do it right—the first time!