The U.S. Supreme Court made news this week by announcing that next spring it will decide on the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the 2010 health care reform law. But that announcement hasn’t slowed legislative efforts in Congress to rid the law of other problematic provisions – nor should it.

One of those provisions is a tax on premiums collected by health insurers in the fully insured market beginning in 2014. The tax is intended to collect roughly $90 billion in revenue through 2020. But this tax will reach far beyond health insurers. A new study by the National Federation of Independent Businesses reveals that it will be passed on to employers and employees. Small businesses, a large majority of whom purchase health care in the fully insured market, are especially vulnerable. The NFIB study projects that the tax will raise employer-sponsored insurance premiums by 2% to 3% and reduce private sector employment by 150,000 to 249,000 jobs by 2021.  Small business will shoulder 59% of this job-loss burden.

Yesterday, Sens. John Barrasso and Orrin Hatch introduced legislation to repeal the insurance tax. In a joint op-ed appearing in Politico, they wrote:

As Congress seeks bipartisan opportunities for real jobs legislation, it should consider our new bill to repeal this health insurance tax. Eliminating it could help change our economic landscape and provide fertile ground for new business and job growth.

It’s the type of initiative the American people have been calling for. This demonstrates the type of bipartisan action Congress should be taking.

The 2010 health care law has a lot of warts, and the tax on health insurers is one of the biggest. It needs to go.