Industry Urges Repeal of Device Tax
BY LAUREN UZDIENSKI, JULY 19, 2011
Over 400 companies and trade associations, including MDMA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a number of musculoskeletal companies, made up a coalition urging Congress to repeal the $20 billion medical device tax. Dated July 18th, the letter states that the tax will "adversely impact patient care and innovation, and will substantially increase the costs of health care."
Effective in 2013, the device tax will take the form of a 2.3% excise tax on all medical device sales. Though the implementation of the tax is still several years away, the letter argues that the tax is already negatively impacting R&D investment and job creation, which in turn jeopardizes U.S. leadership in medical technology development. The letter states that legislation to repeal the tax already has the support of 175 House members.
HealthpointCapital was among the 420 signatories. In orthopedics, we were joined by Alphatec Spine, Biomet, NuVasive, Stryker and Zimmer, among others.
