STEPHEN OHLEMACHER - Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol already have overwhelmingly rejected the medical device tax that House Republicans insist on repealing as a condition for keeping the government open. It's just that those earlier votes didn't count.
Despite its unpopularity, both the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., vowed this week they would not let Republicans make the tax a bargaining chip in averting a government shutdown on Tuesday. Republicans nonetheless put that chip on the table Saturday, along with a new demand to delay for a year making people buy medical insurance under President Barack Obama's health care law. The requirement goes into effect Jan. 1.
Reid, through a spokesman, called the idea of repealing the medical device tax as part of an anti-shutdown bill "stupid." ''The Senate will reject any (funding bill) that includes a repeal of the medical device tax," said Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson.
"Absolutely not," White House spokesman Jay Carney answered when asked if President Barack Obama would support repealing the tax.
The 2.3 percent tax, which took effect in January, is aimed at U.S. sales of medical devices used chiefly by doctors and hospitals, such as pacemakers and CT scan machines. Consumer items are exempted, including eyeglasses, contact lenses and hearing aids.
The tax was adopted as part of and intended to help pay for Obama's Affordable Care Act. Repealing it would cost the government an estimated $29 billion over the coming decade.
U.S. medical device companies employ about 400,000 people and boast sales of $130 billion annually. AdvaMed, the industry's largest trade group, says the tax is hurting job creation, reducing investment in medical innovation and increasing health care costs.
"The U.S. leads the world in medical technology, but the device tax threatens that leadership because it will put an additional burden on medical device innovators already struggling under the weight of America's uncompetitive tax system," the group says on its website. "The tax will be levied on medical device sales in the U.S. regardless of whether the company is making a profit."
Democrats counter that the new health care law will increase revenue for the industry by expanding health coverage to millions more people, helping offset the impact of the tax.
Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate have supported repealing the tax. Last year, 37 House Democrats voted with all 233 Republicans to repeal the tax. The bill passed the House, 270-146, but died in the Senate.
Many of the Democrats who favored the bill came from states like Minnesota, New York and California, which have a heavy presence of medical equipment makers.
In March, the Democratic-led Senate voted 79-20 to repeal the tax, but that measure was part of a nonbinding budget resolution. The vote, however, showed bipartisan support among senators for repealing the tax.
"It's got such strong support in both the House and Senate," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, a senior member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. "It's a tax that makes no sense. In the weakest economic recovery since World War II, the president needs to be thinking about how you keep American jobs, not either kill them or send them overseas."
MTW- If the young folks coming out of college that were expected to pay for Obamacare, yet are unable for some reason, they have to find more money someplace. Sure, the young people cannot find a job, and have moved back in with the parents. They are healthy, a place to live and a career are on their minds. I am sure that they are most definitely chomping at the bit to pay exorbitant premiums for health insurance they do not want or need; if they decide not to enroll they will be fined? It sounds almost as if Obama is now a Police Officer pulling you over and giving you a monthly ticket for not having health insurance coverage. The medical device tax is absurd (the Democrat led Senate actually voted to repeal), and they have been collecting since January 2013? Where is the money going? It taxes things which are not even remotely related to the Medical Field. I wish more of our Doctors would stand together- and perhaps even some States’ Insurance Commissioners- if they had some kind of platform to educate their patients on the big downside of this law. The problem is, and I have tried to read the ACA myself. It is a confusing nightmare to read, even Einstein with his I.Q. of 160 would struggle, as it is so very long and incomprehensible not even our Physicians can make any sense of it. The Insurance Commissioners can understand it, and they are not speaking about it in a hopeful manner, at least the 2 or 3 I have heard. I also love the way Obama has given waivers to not only Congress and many federal employees but also some big businesses. The Unions are not happy. Jobs are being lost and the 40 hour work week is becoming a thing of the past. Obama DID NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY to make his 19 changes to the ‘law of the land’ (shame on the Supreme Court) as it is to date. If it were a Republican House AND Senate this man would have been impeached long ago. If only he had been; instead, he is continuing his mission to destroy the Nation we so love and knew so well. It saddens me, as I spend 4 or 5 days every month at the doctor’s office, as I am disabled. The system is broken, for sure, but you do not replace it with a more costly one when expense was one of the initial complaints. More paperwork has been given at my visit a few days ago to sign away more of my HIPPA privacy rights, and if I had refused I feared that I may not get my treatment continued; they have me by the balls as I know I need at least 1 more surgery on my neck. I have Medicare, for now. He will come for that soon as well I am sure. Remember this quote? “If you like your plan, your doctor, you get to keep them”- Barack Obama. That is some of the very first BS Barack Obama gave us, along with all of this “change”. He might not have been elected either time if some folks had figured out what his context of the word change. I think he means to 'change' this Great Nation into a third world ghetto. Just my opinion after hundreds of doctor appointments and procedures over the last decade or so. I research as a writer. I now possess enough knowledge that it could enable me to pass the medical bar and treat my own self. Maybe not, but it certainly seems like it.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy
No comments:
Post a Comment