Senate bill targets 2.3% ACA tax on medical device manufacturers

On Tuesday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, introduced legislation that would repeal a health care reform law provision that imposes a 2.3% federal excise tax on manufacturers o/ Reuters

Bipartisan legislation introduced Tuesday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would repeal a health care reform law provision that imposes a 2.3% federal excise tax on manufacturers on medical devices.

Revenues generated by the tax, which first went into effect two years ago, are used to help offset the cost of federal premium subsides provided to the lower-income uninsured who purchase coverage in public exchanges.

Sen. Hatch, though described the tax as onerous. “Every dollar medical device manufacturers spend on this onerous tax is a dollar taken away from American innovation, job growth, and the ability to provide groundbreaking medical technologies to patients in need,” Sen. Hatch said in a statement.

The measure, S. 149, has 10 cosponsors, including four Senate Democrats: Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.

The bill is the second introduced in the Senate to repeal a major health care reform law provision. Earlier, Sen. Susan Collins, D-Maine, introduced legislation, S. 30, that bumps up to 40 hours a week from the current 30 hours the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s definition of a full-time employee. The House already has passed a companion bill, which the White House says President Obama would veto if the bill receives final congressional approval.