Massachusetts Senator Proposes Repealing Device Tax

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) Wednesday co-sponsored an amendment with Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) that would repeal the 2.3 percent medical device tax included in the healthcare reform legislation signed by President Obama this week.

“With unemployment in my state near 10 percent, placing a tax on medical devices is the absolute last thing we should be doing right now,” Brown said. “This tax will burden employers and cost jobs at a time we cannot afford one more job being lost.”

The senator, who now has the seat of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), said the legislation would slash jobs in the device industry; there are more than 200 medical device firms in Massachusetts.

The U.S. Senate today continues consideration of proposed changes to healthcare reform after almost 9 ½ hours of votes that went until around 3 a.m. today, and a vote on a package of revisions has been set for 2 p.m. The changes must then go back to the U.S. House of Representatives for a final vote.