Few components of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law have generated as much resistance from the healthcare industry as the medical device tax. Under the measure, manufacturers of medical devices are required to pay a tax of 2.3 percent on every sale of their devices. Over the next 10 years, the tax is expected to generate between $30 billion and $40 billion in revenues that will be used to fund the healthcare law. Device manufacturers have stridently claimed that the tax is unfair and burdensome. They have warned that it will stifle innovation and substantially raise healthcare costs around the country.
House Republicans have insisted that the measure be stripped from President Obama’s healthcare law. They made it one of the key requirements for ending the partial government shutdown and extending the nation’s debt ceiling. However, despite intense pressure from lawmakers, lobbyists and executives from the medical device industry, the measure has so far survived all attempts at repeal. When the government shutdown was lifted in mid-October, the medical device tax remained virtually unscathed and intact. The device tax went into effect in early 2013 and will remain in place unless it is repealed.
To learn more about the full implications of the medical device tax in Southern California please contact Stacy My Insurance Lady an independent insurance agent specializing in all aspects of the new healthcare law.