The Vinton City Council learned Thursday night that the Affordable Care Act tax on the city’s health insurance plans will cost $15,000 in 2014.

Insurance representative Bob Moen attended the city council meeting to do what he has done several times for other employers who offer their workers Wellmark health insurance plans: Explaining the new taxes on health insurance plans authorized by the federal health care law, which go into effect Jan. 1, 2014.

“The Supreme Court has ruled that this fee is a “tax,” so employers are not required to pay it,” Moen told the council.

In the language of Wellmark, Moen said the new tax – actually made up of two separate fees – is $14.25 per “belly button” per month. Those fees affect virtually every private health insurance plan.

There are 88 people who are covered under the city employees’ health plan. That means the monthly cost of the ACA taxes is $1,254; the annual amount comes to $15,048. Because the Supreme Court has declared those fees to be taxes, said Moen, the employers are not required to pay them; many employers are passing the cost to their employees.

The main question facing the council is whether to pay the tax, or pass on the cost to the employees. A city worker with a wife and two children on the plan would have to pay $57 each month.

“If you are going to pass on the cost to the employees, you should notify them soon,” Moen advised.

The city council will again discuss the issue during its second meeting of the month, on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

The ACA fees include a Transitional Insurance Fee and a Annual Health Insurance Fee, which help subsidize health care premiums for those who cannot afford them. After the meeting, Moen said he expects those expenses to rise in future years, along with increases in other ACA fees.

“We should call it the ‘Obamacare’ line item,” said council member Bud Maynard.

Moen said employers have been asking him to come to employee meetings to explain the new ACA fees.

“That lets them be mad at me instead of their employers,” he said.