House Introduces Bill To Repeal ACA's Medical Device Tax
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
House Republican’s effort to remove the excise tax is being lauded by the medical device industry.
One element of the Affordable Care Act included assessing a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical device manufacturers to raise money to help defray the costs of the ACA. Now, House Republicans are renewing efforts to get that tax repealed.
The Protect Medical Innovation Act was introduced by Rep. Erik Paulson (R-MN), co-chair of the Congressional Medical Technology Caucus and member of the House Ways and Means Committee. Ron Kind (D-WI) also helped introduce the bill which gained the support of 254 co-sponsors, including 27 Democrats.
According to the National Review, this is the third time Paulson has brought the legislation to the House. Paulsen introduced the bill in the last two sessions of Congress, where it passed in the House with bipartisan support, but failed to get a vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The closest the Senate ever came was a non-binding budget resolution that passed 79–20 in 2013.
With Mitch McConnell now serving as Senate majority leader, it is predicted that the repeal bill will pass both chambers and be sent to President Obama. It is unclear what action the president will take on the bill, though proponents remain optimistic regarding its fate.
“The medical device tax continues to stifle innovation, cost American jobs, and drive up healthcare costs despite bipartisan opposition in both houses of Congress,” Paulsen said in a written statement. “With over 250 co-sponsors on Day One of the new session, it’s clear repealing this tax should be one of the priorities for the new Congress. The American people are looking for their elected officials in Washington to find common ground and repealing the medical device tax is a great place to start.
Among critics of the tax are medical device manufacturers in Pennsylvania who are hopeful that the bill will be passed. The Philadelphia Business Journal interviewed Christopher P. Molineaux, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Bio, a statewide trade association based in Wayne, PA, that represents pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device manufacturers. Molineaux said, “Medical innovation is the cornerstone of Pennsylvania’s economy and this excise tax has proven to be a jobs-killing and research-stifling mistake.”
Bruce Shook, president and CEO of Intact Vascular, a medical device company in Wayne, PA, told The Philadelphia Business Journal that the tax has put the medical device industry in the United States at a competitive disadvantage globally. “I applaud the efforts of our Congressional delegation to repeal this tax but we must keep the pressure on our elected officials until it is signed by the president,” Shook said.
And in a prepared statement, Dr. Gregory Sorensen, president and CEO of Siemens Healthcare's North America division in Malvern, PA, said the excise tax “has had a profoundly adverse effect not only on the medical device manufacturing community, but also on patient care. This tax has stifled medical equipment design and innovation, leading to a decrease in hundreds of valuable research-and-development jobs at Siemens Healthcare alone.”