Senate Health Committee chair says medtech tax repeal is a"phony" issue | MassDevice.com On Call
October 25, 2013 by Arezu Sarvestani FiDA
highlight
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Medical device tax repeal efforts have made friends
across party lines and in both houses of Congress, but Senate Health Committee chairman Tom Harkin
isn't one of them.
In harsh comments made yesterday Harkin characterized the debate over
the medical device tax as a fabricated controversy, saying that the industry
can afford to pay its share to help fund healthcare reform, Minnesota Public Radio
reported.
"That medical device tax
issue is one of the phoniest issues I have seen in my years here," Harkin
said. "It is absolutely, totally fraudulent and phony. That small amount
of tax won't hurt them one bit, and they make a lot of money on medical
devices."
Harkin promised to fight any efforts to repeal the tax, MPR wrote.
The sentiment is one long shared
by the White House.
The Obama administration has on several
occasions said that medical device
tax repeal is a non-starter, maintaining that the levy represents the medtech industry's
fair burden in helping to fund healthcare reforms that will bring them more
customers. The so-called "windfall"
rhetoric has been a staple of the battle over the medical
device tax, with proponents of the tax arguing that medtech companies will
offset much of their costs through their new customers and the industry
insisting that the newly insured aren't the kind that end up needing medical
devices.
The White House
said for the 1st time this month that it would consider repeal of
the levy, as long as lawmakers could come to terms on some means of making up
for the lost revenue. The issue of a so-called "pay-for" to make up
for the lost revenue the medical device tax is projected to generate has been a
sticking point for many Democrats.
No comments:
Post a Comment