Medical Device Makers Divided Over Reduced Tax

Medical device makers are still split over a reduced tax in the Senate health bill, Roll Call reports.

In the fall, congressional Democrats "proposed slapping $40 billion in new taxes over 10 years on the medical device companies, claiming they had refused to offer concessions on their own - in contrast to the drug companies and hospitals - to help pay for health care reform. Industry officials complained they were already taking a hit because of likely hospital cuts that would affect device makers' bottom lines. They warned new taxes would mean steep job losses." But now, as the Senate moves closer to the "final stretch of its consideration of the massive health bill, some in the medical device industry appear closer to reaching a truce. ... Both the Senate and House versions include $20 billion in new taxes on the industry. At the same time, the negotiations have exposed a rift within the medical device community between larger companies and smaller firms" (Roth, 12/16).