Inquiry Says Health Care Charges Were Proper New York Times
At issue is a section of the law that eliminates a tax break available to companies that provide drug benefits to retirees as part of their insurance coverage. The tax change, expected to generate $4.5 billion of revenue over the next 10 years, will help offset the cost of providing coverage to the uninsured.
Within days after President Obama signed the law on March 23, companies filed reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission , saying the tax change would have a material adverse effect on their earnings.
The White House suggested that companies were exaggerating the effects of the tax change. The commerce secretary, Gary F. Locke, said the companies were being “premature and irresponsible” in taking such write-downs.
Representative Henry A. Waxman of California and Bart Stupak of Michigan, both Democrats, opened an investigation and demanded that four companies — AT&T , Caterpillar, Deere and Verizon — supply documents analyzing the “impact of health care reform ,” together with an explanation of their accounting methods.
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