Yet another Capitol Hill lawmaker has come out against the 2.3 percent tax on medical devices. In an opinion column in The Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C., Rep. Cathy McMorris (R-Wash.) made her case to repeal the tax, which is set to go into effect in 2013.
Given the current state of the American—and global—economy, McMorris said that now is not the time for heavily taxing an industry that’s creating jobs.
“With the markets seesawing and unemployment rising, creating and maintaining jobs remains Americans’ top priority. Spurring job creation in a field that actually improves people’s lives would be doubly beneficial, which is why health innovation remains a top public policy objective,” she wrote. “To maintain America’s leadership and ensure patients have access to cutting-edge technologies, Congress must eliminate the 2.3 percent tax on medical devices scheduled to go into effect in 2013, curb unnecessary regulations and make the [U.S.] Food and Drug Administration more efficient so that innovators can make their life-saving and life-improving devices readily available in the United States."
McMorris characterized the medical device industry as “a uniquely American success story,” but cautioned that America could “lose its leadership position.”
She said that the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health subcommittee is holding “candid” conversations with the FDA, product innovators and patients to assess how Congress can best assist in authorizing the most effective review process possible.
“A lengthy review process is more than a bureaucratic holdup—it results in devastating ramifications for individuals and families,” McMorris wrote. “Many patients have testified that when faced with a medical condition that could turn degenerative or fatal, they were frustrated to discover that life-altering, or even life-saving, treatments were available, but only abroad … Currently, more than 400,000 Americans are employed in the medical technology industry. In 2008, these workers earned $24.6 billion, which breaks down to an average yearly salary of $58,000. These well-paying jobs are jeopardized when patients and healthcare professionals are forced to turn out of necessity to products only available in European and other foreign markets due to an overly lethargic and repetitive FDA review process.”