Some Dems Say Medical Device Tax Repeal Is A 'Moronic' Idea

[Tx4obama]

Some Dems Say Medical Device Tax Repeal Is A 'Moronic' Idea

A tax on medical device manufacturers under Obamacare has become a top target in the shutdown and debt limit showdowns. The House has voted to repeal the tax and the push has bipartisan support in the Senate. It was floated by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) during a White House meeting Friday as part of a broader proposal to resolve the impasse.

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Here's the back story: during the health care reform debate of 2009, major industry players -- hospitals, doctors, insurers and others -- came to the negotiating table and offered substantial concessions in exchange for the new customers the law would bring them. The medical device industry, however, refused to play ball and got slapped with the 2.3 percent excise tax, which will raise roughly $30 billion over 10 years to help finance the law.

Device makers have since waged an all-out war against the tax, warning that it would harm jobs, growth and medical innovation. AdvaMed, the industry's top lobbying group, has made it its mission to repeal the fee, and is winning the fight by already making the provision an exceedingly rare component of Obamacare which faces strong bipartisan opposition.

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The tax applies to "the sale of any taxable medical device by the manufacturer or importer of the device starting in 2013," explains Paul Van de Water, a health policy expert at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "The tax does not apply to eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids, wheelchairs, or any other medical device that the public generally buys at retail for individual use." Van de Water contends that the industry's claims are overblown, and that the tax would have little effect on jobs, innovation and consumers.

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Full article here: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/how-the-push-to-repeal-obamacare-s-medical-device-tax-gained-traction

[bhikkhu]

1. I wouldn't mind if the medical device tax gets cut

as long as they replace the revenue by closing some other loophole or other tax. There's plenty of low-hanging fruit as far as that goes.

[Tx4obama]

3. IF the tax gets cut then it should be done in the future like next year - not now...

... if it were to be done now it would look like a 'cave' to the GOP.

[joshcryer]

6. The US does have highest per-capita MRI and CAT scan machines in the world.

So you might have a point.

I think the tax is meager at best, however. It's not a huge tax, and it pinches the monopolists on these technologies. More producers should be making them. A tax would allow others to get in on the pie and arguably lower the cost for these machines.

The other, standard, service-level appliances have sunk research costs, are easily and cheaply made, and the tax is basically a rounding error. An oxygen machine doesn't cost fucking $2k to manufacture, no way, no how. All the corporations have to do is say they paid $1500 for them (when their cost was $500, at most) and they still profit, massively.

edit: no negotiation!

[mwrguy]

2. Double the tax

Fuck'em

[LostOne4Ever]

4. I like your thinking!!! (nt)

[freshwest]

8. Hell yeah!

[newfie11]

18. +infinity. Nt

[dkf]

5. Why in the world did they target medical devices to tax anyway?

"Didn't accede to demands" seems like blackmail and coercion to me. What an awful way to frame the reasoning.

[joshcryer]

7. Because medical devices are fucking cheap to manufacture.

And the damn monopolists on medical devices were and are making insane profits.

[dkf]

10. Like a pacemaker?

[joshcryer]

11. Sure. Read the CBPP's coments on the matter.

It is linked in this thread.

The tax is minimal at best.

[juajen]

13. Yep, they do charge outrageous prices.

My husband's pace maker/defibrillator was $100,000.00. After he died, they removed the device and sold it again. Tax them, please.

[joshcryer]

16. sorry to hear that

May he rest in peace. That is total bullshit.

Note: my dad was in one of the experimental stages of pacemakers, and they required removal.

He died in 1997.

[joshcryer]

9. CBPP on the medical device tax:

House Republicans have reportedly decided to attach to the Senate-passed funding bill for fiscal year 2014 a provision to repeal the 2.3-percent excise tax on medical devices that policymakers enacted in 2010 to help pay for health reform. The excise tax is sound, however, and the arguments against the tax don’t withstand scrutiny.

The tax does not single out the medical device industry for unfair treatment. The excise tax is one of several new levies on sectors that will gain business due to health reform. The expansion of health coverage will increase the demand for medical devices and could offset the effect of the tax.

The tax will not cause manufacturers to shift production overseas. The tax applies equally to imported and domestically produced devices, and devices produced in the United States for export are tax-exempt.

The tax will have little effect on innovation in the medical device industry. To the contrary, health reform may well spur medical device innovation by promoting more cost-effective ways of delivering care.

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3684

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. I heard some jerk on local RW-Talk Radio claim the tax is gonna make doctors use dirty needles....

Have I said lately how much I hate these people?

[Beartracks]

14. The only requirements for RW talk radio are...

... ignorance and a willingness to use it.

=========================

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. This is a religion to them. That's why they are furious with those they perceive as heretics.

[Enthusiast]

17. If they didn't have lies,

they wouldn't have anything at all.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. There are always suckers willing to fork over money to a lost cause.

[newfie11]

19. What's scary is people believe this shit

What's happened to Americans.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. I blame Lipton.

[Laelth]

20. It's just a bargaining chip at this point.

Desperate Republicans are just looking for something to save face, and a repeal of this tax would allow them to do so.

That said, we need the revenue, and I hope the Democrats in DC give the Republicans nothing, whatsoever.

-Laelth

[geek tragedy]

23. Repeal is a stupid idea but it's too small a hill to die on. nt