"Senate Plan will Cost NH"

That is the headline to a quick story in today's Union Leader as well as the simple message from the president and general manager of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to NH's health insurance customers:

[E]xcise taxes on expensive health plans and a tax hitched to the ranks of those covered by not-for-profit insurers in each state both will add costs to local consumers and employers.

The tax on so-called Cadillac health plans will hit the state because health care costs in the area are high, a fact reflected both in medical bills and insurance premiums.

[President and general manager Doug] Wenners said disproportionately large numbers of both small and bigger businesses offer plans that will exceed the thresholds at which the excise tax begins to apply -- $23,000 per family, and $8,500 per individual.

The state will also be hit by a higher than average share of a national tax that raises a total $6.7 billion, but exempts those covered by not-for-profit plans. A higher percentage of people are insured by for-profits in New Hampshire than in any other state, Wenners said.