Update on IRS Medical Device Tax Final Rule

Discussion  FierceMedicalDevices noted that while the IRS acquiesced to expanding its over-the-counter provision to include devices bought over the Internet or by telephone, but requests to better define "affordable," elaborate on "minimal or no training" and to exempt Class III devices were all spurned by the IRS.  Mark Leahey, CEO of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association, said the final ruling does nothing to dull the blow the 2.3% tax will deliver to jobs and innovation in the industry.  “There is growing bipartisan support in Congress to repeal the medical device tax, and MDMA remains committed to working with elected officials to fix a policy that was a bad idea when it passed, and is proving to be more harmful than imagined to our economy and patient care as it gets closer to implementation,” Leahey said in a statement.  Companies including Boston Scientific Corp, 3M Co and Kimberly-Clark Corp have been lobbying the U.S. Congress for a repeal of the tax.  A repeal bill passed the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives in June, but it has not been voted on by the Democratic-controlled Senate.  Democratic Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC), however, “is looking to her state's business leaders to find a way to repeal the 2.3% medical device tax and make up for the make up for the $30 billion in revenue it's slated to raise to support healthcare reform,” reported MassDevice.com.  In one potentially problematic aspect of the tax, companies sellin...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs