WASHINGTON — Medical-device companies scored a political victory when the Senate voted in a nonbinding resolution to repeal a new device tax, and now they are turning their attention to the House, especially Representative Ed Markey.
The 2.3 percent tax went into effect in January and is supposed to help offset the costs of implementing President Obama’s landmark health reform law. But the device industry argues that it would cost Massachusetts’ largest companies more than $411 million a year, according to a new analysis by the Pioneer Institute that will be released in April, just before the first payment is due.
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So I guess the industry would shut down and give up all of their profits due to this tax. What a sell out by Warren and Markey. I give up on this insanity. I know yada, yada on healthcare. Funny though I recently read a report on how many young Americans are moving to Canada. Starting businesses and when polled as why it's all about health care. Bloody socialist Canadians.
No, but they might move their production facility to another state, or out of the country.
These are good high wage jobs at all levels - manufacturing, engineering, sales and marketing.
Remember - while Obama and Deval think, and EBT card is not the equivalent of a job.
Don't believe the hype. The most profitable companies in healthcare are big pharma and medical device manufacturers. Their claims, the same one's every industry uses, that tax increases will cause layoffs, is nothing more than a scare tactic and rings hollow. These companies are like the boy who cried wolf. As deleveraging has become the de rigueur method for maximizing the bottom line, increased taxes has become an excuse rather than reason for layoffs. In fact it’s become secondary or tertiary at best.
do you know anything about manufacturing, in healthcare or otherwise? (my guess is: no)
Granny and Markey...Hammering the middle class.
Folks, these are high end manufacturing jobs.... and if they leave Mass...they ain't ever coming back.
Look at Obama's "jobs czar" at GE...(head of evil corp == DEMOCRAT) shipping high end imaging design to China. Very good jobs, outsourced (again, by a SUPER LIBERAL DEMOCRAT) - never coming back.
Medical device companies sound like a special interest. Don't the democrats campaign against special interest groups? Hey Mo, it's your turn to vote. Ah, huh? Never mind Mo. It's vacation time again anyway.
" WASHINGTON — Medical-device companies scored a political victory when the Senate voted in a nonbinding resolution to repeal a new device tax, and now they are turning their attention to the House, especially Representative Ed Markey."" The Globe shows it's purely Left Wing bias by calling this a "Political Victory" for those EVIL medical device compamies. The same companies that provide medical devices for you and me. This is a "Political Victory"for the PUBLIC, who needs to use these devices.
Also speaking of medical devices, several of them come from Israel. Globe doesn't tell you that "Israeli researchers, scientistis, engineers, doctors, and others are all helping the US promote nation building at home ans security an sustainability abroad" as reported in yesterday's WSJ editorial "Israel's High-Tech Pipeline to the US..
ttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203335504578086762629230722.html?KEYWORDS=israel+pipeline&cb=logged0.10767664906623814
another hole in Obamacare
How did this become about Ed Markey? It seems obvious that the Globe is in his corner. An article about the Senate with a nice campaign picture of Ed Markey, a congressman RUNNING for the senate. The fix is in.
Geeze Louise...good point!
How disappointing to see our Senators roll over and support the repeal on the tax on medical devices. I thought Warren was going to be a different kind of politician. I see that Washington is changing her in a negative way. The arguments against this tax don’t withstand any reasonable scrutiny: ■ the expansion of health coverage will increase the demand for medical devices and will offset the effect of the tax. ■ the tax will not cause manufacturers to shift production overseas. The tax applies equally to imported and domestically produced devices. Devices produced in the United States for export are tax-exempt. ■ the tax will have little effect on innovation in the medical device industry. To the contrary, health reform may well spur medical device innovation by promoting more cost-effective ways of delivering care. Tom Sommers and the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council clearly and purposely exaggerate the effects of the bill on Massachusetts. Next time stick to your guns; avoid the knee-jerk parochial response to lobbyists from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and for that matter lobbyist from any geographic area.
Then you should be happy to know that the Democratic Senators haven't really "rolled over", agt least not yet. Because Harry Reid has this section as one of many amendments to the $ TRillions Senate budget bill. It is NOT a separate bill on its own. So when the House rejects the Senate budget bill, the device tax repeal goes too...Of course the Globe knows this but it doesn't tell you.