U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today supported a bill, introduced by U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) called the Union Tax Fairness Act (S. 1724), to prevent union health care plans from being exempted from the Obamacare reinsurance tax.

“The proposed rule to give unions special treatment under a disastrous law they helped create is pure politics,” Roberts said. “Kansans know a payoff when they see one.”

The reinsurance tax is scheduled to begin in 2014 and requires all self-insured plans to pay a tax for each person covered under a health plan. CMS proposed a rule to exempt these self-insured or Taft-Hartley plans from the tax. The reinsurance tax was meant to provide funds to health care plans in the Obamacare exchanges to defray the cost of care for people with pre-existing conditions.

The Union Tax Fairness Act would prevent the White House from providing a special fix for unions that would exempt them from the reinsurance tax.

In addition to Roberts, Alexander and Hatch, Thune’s bill is co-sponsored by Senators James Inhofe (R-Okla.), David Vitter (R-La.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

Last week, Roberts signed a letter sent by Thune, Alexander, Hatch and 17 of their Republican Senate colleagues that urged the Obama administration not to move forward with the proposed regulation.

Senator Roberts is a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and is a member of the Senate Committee on Finance where he is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health.