Davinci Surgical Robot (Intuitive Surgical Systems)
Another wheel falls off Obamacare. At least in the House of Representatives where the Republicans hold sway. It is doubtful if the Democratic Senate will go along with this message from the people's representatives.
Forty-six Democrats joined 234 Republicans in the House who voted Thursday to repeal the much-maligned medical device tax, reports The Washington Times.
The bill would eliminate the 2.3 percent excise tax enacted in the Affordable Care Act.
The tax has been called "burdensome" and "stupid," and its repeal has been a priority among the GOP this year.
The medical device tax threatens to impact employment, and an unneeded burden upon manufacturers.
The tax was expected to raise roughly $24 billion over the next decade; that would have to be made up in other ways.
In July, the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance, the Advanced Medical Technology Association and the Medical Device Manufacturers Association announced that medical device industry payments to the Internal Revenue Service already have passed the $1 billion mark.
At a Congressional hearing in March, meanwhile, lawmakers said that the tax "looms large" over the mobile healthcare industry.
"While the IRS and FDA have provided some draft guidance on how they will apply the medical device definition and medical device tax, their analysis is not a poster child of clarity and leaves large parts of the economy wondering if they will be on the hook for what is essentially a tax on innovation, Meanwhile, lawmakers said that the tax "looms large" over the mobile healthcare industry. This is counter to the goal of developing remote monitoring, telemedicine and mobile health devices.
It remains unclear as to what is a 'mobile device', and there are differing opinions regarding what kind of mobile apps, or devices to which the tax would apply
(Fierce Health IT,
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