House Republican tax writers are considering delaying Obamacare’s health insurance tax for only limited markets next year, leaving out small businesses and possibly private Medicaid plans, according to sources on and off Capitol Hill. They would suspend it for all markets in 2019. ***

The fate of the health insurance tax is being decided in negotiations over a year-end bill. Also in the mix is a two-year delay of Obamacare’s medical device tax, loosening the restrictions on health savings accounts, and [further] delay of the Cadillac tax. ***

On the Senate side, the tax bill has pushed the Obamacare tax delays to the back burner. Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said the panel hasn’t considered delay legislation yet. “But we’ll have to get into it, there’s no question,” he said.

The health insurance tax has a big adverse impact on the FEHBP and so would the Cadillac tax (now set for 2020) as the FEHBlog has discussed.